TAMPA, Fla. (Interstat) — Griffin Jax allowed one run over five innings and Ryan Vilade hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Saturday evening at George Steinbrenner Field.

The Rays, who improved to 56-37, won for the second consecutive afternoon after taking the series opener 7-2 on Friday. Seattle fell to 47-49 and has lost four straight games.

Jax, a right-hander, scattered four hits and struck out three while walking none to earn his fifth win of the season against six losses. The Rays’ bullpen combined for four scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing two hits. Cam Booser struck out five over two hitless innings, Garrett Cleavinger fanned two in a one-inning appearance and Casey Legumina worked a perfect ninth.

Seattle starter Logan Gilbert took the loss, dropping to 7-6. Gilbert allowed four earned runs on nine hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking two. He left after Vilade’s homer, which turned a one-run game into a four-run deficit.

The most important sequence came in the bottom of the seventh with the score tied 1-1. Gilbert had retired the first two batters of the inning before Jonathan Aranda doubled to center for his third hit of the game. Seattle then intentionally walked Junior Caminero to face Vilade, batting as a pinch hitter. Vilade deposited a line-drive home run to left field, his seventh of the season, scoring Aranda and Caminero to give the Rays a 4-1 lead. The blast extended the Rays’ advantage and effectively decided the contest.

Seattle scored first in the top of the second. Cole Young led off with a double to center, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Victor Robles and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Colt Emerson. Tampa Bay answered in the bottom half when Chandler Simpson singled, stole second and came home on a double by Ben Williamson, tying the game 1-1.

The Rays took the lead in the third. Yandy Díaz doubled to start the inning and scored on Aranda’s double to center, making it 2-1. Tampa Bay then added three runs in the seventh on Vilade’s homer and one more in the eighth on an RBI single by Nick Fortes that scored Williamson after a throwing error by Seattle reliever Michael Rucker.

Ben Williamson finished 4 for 4 with a double, a single and an RBI, pacing the Rays’ 12-hit attack. Aranda went 3 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI. Junior Caminero also doubled and scored twice. Jonny DeLuca struck out twice but made several defensive plays in right field.

Seattle managed only six hits, with Randy Arozarena reaching base twice on a single and two walks, but left five runners on base. Josh Naylor doubled in the eighth but the Mariners stranded him in scoring position as Cleavinger struck out Mitch Garver to end the threat.

The game’s attendance was 22,597 and the duration was 2 hours, 31 minutes.

Jax’s outing marked a bounce-back performance after he allowed three earned runs in five innings in a loss to the New York Yankees on July 6. He also threw six innings of three-run ball in a win at Kansas City on June 30.

Seattle has now lost four consecutive games, including a 7-2 defeat in Friday’s series opener. The Mariners have dropped seven of their last nine overall. Tampa Bay has won four of its last six.

The two teams conclude their three-game series Sunday afternoon. Seattle’s next 10 games include matchups at Tampa Bay on Sunday, then a six-game homestand against San Francisco and Cincinnati, followed by a three-game road series at Texas. Tampa Bay’s next 10 games feature the series finale Sunday against Seattle, then a three-game road set at Boston, a four-game series at Toronto and a home series against Cleveland.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a 6-5 final score in favor of Tampa Bay. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Rays a 53 percent probability of winning. Seattle entered as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5 runs. The total score of seven went over the over-under line of 7.5.