It’s good to be home.
The Rays came back home Friday night needing something that felt a little less like the last few days in Baltimore and a lot more like the team that had made Tropicana Field a very uncomfortable place for visitors. After four straight losses, a sweep they would like to forget, the Rays opened the homestand against the Los Angeles Angels. The good news for the Rays is has been different. The Rays entered with the best home record in baseball and a chance to become just the first team this season and the third team in franchise history to reach 20 home wins before June.
Nick Martinez opened the night like a veteran trying to get this team to end the losing streak. He struck out Zach Neto, got Mike Trout to fly out in foul territory, and punched out Vaughn Grissom to end a clean and efficient first inning.
Then Yandy Diaz came out swinging in the bottom half of the inning.
On the first Rays plate appearance of the night, he launched a Walbert Ureña sinker for a solo homer to right, his ninth of the season, giving the Rays a quick a 1-0 lead. Junior Caminero would draw a walk later in the inning but that was all the offense Tampa Bay would get in the opening frame.
Martinez worked around two singles with two outs in the second, but the Angels tied it in the third after Neto doubled, moved to third on Trout’s flyout, and scored on Grissom’s two-out single. The Rays, meanwhile, had their own chance in the bottom half when Jonathan Aranda singled and Caminero doubled with two outs. Two runners in scoring position, a chance to answer right back, and Ryan Vilade grounded out.
In the fourth, Tampa Bay had another ideal setup. Chandler Simpson beat out a bunt single, Ben Williamson followed with a soft grounder for an infield hit, and the Rays had two on with nobody out. Instead of retaking the lead, Richie Palacios struck out and Nick Fortes rolled into a double play ending the potential rally.
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The Angels took advantage in the fifth when Jose Siri, returning to the Trop in a different uniform, doubled to start the inning, then moved to third on a Martinez wild pitch. Neto singled him home, and suddenly the Rays trailed 2-1. Martinez limited the damage by getting Trout to ground into a double play to keep the game close.
Tampa Bay had another window in the sixth after an error by Neto put Vilade aboard, and Williamson was hit by a pitch. Williamson, in his first game back from injury, had to leave the game. Oliver Dunn took over as a pinch-runner. Once again, the Rays could not finish it with runs. Palacios struck out after an ABS challenge, and Fortes lined out to left. Through six innings, the Rays had chances, but chances aren’t runs. It was the baseball equivalent of loading your cart online and never checking out.
Then the seventh inning happened, and the best way I can describe it is the game turned into a sampler platter of ways to get outs and ways to score runs for the Rays.
Nick Madrigal lead off with a single to left, deflected off Caminero, and for a moment the Angels had a chance to add on while clinging to that 2-1 lead. But the Rays quickly shut the door. Logan O’Hoppe popped out in foul territory on a ball Caminero charged in for calling Fortes off late, then Madrigal tried to swipe second and got tagged out after oversliding the base, turning a leadoff baserunner into two outs in a blink. Jose Siri followed with a soft liner to Oliver Dunn at short, and Martinez was through seven with the deficit still only one. The Rays were still within one swing of a tie game.
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Ureña was gone and Ryan Zeferjahn entered in relief for the Angels. Cedric Mullins immediately drew a walk after looking like he was prepared to bunt in the first pitch of the at-bat. That brought Yandy back to the plate, and Yandy apparently decided one homer was just an appetizer. He launched a two-run shot to left-center, flipping the game from 2-1 Angels to 3-2 Rays. It was his second homer of the night, but this one landed in the mostly shirtless “Tarps off” section of the ballpark, sending the place into a frenzy.
Aranda followed with his own blast, a solo shot to right-center, and suddenly the Rays had back-to-back homers and a 4-2 lead. Caminero singled, Vilade moved him over with a groundout, Simpson reached on an error, and Dunn dropped down a bunt single to score Caminero. Well done.
Then Palacios, who had struck out twice and left runners hanging earlier, got his redemption swing. He ripped a two-run triple to right, scoring Simpson and Dunn, and suddenly the Rays had turned a tight, frustrating game into a 7-2 lead. Fortes added another on-brand run for the Rays, a sacrifice bunt that scored Palacios from third. Homers, walks, errors, bunts, triples, productive outs. It was less an inning and more a baseball bingo card.
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Hunter Bigge started the eighth by walking Neto after an ABS challenge, then walking Trout. Grissom doubled in a run, and Kevin Kelly entered trying to stop the inning from becoming a full-blown problem. He did, sort of. Jo Adell and Wade Meckler each brought home runs on groundouts, trimming the lead to 8-5 before Kelly struck out Oswald Peraza to end it in a way that was more functional than ideal. The six-run cushion had turned into a three-run game faster than anyone wanted and served as a reminder that no lead is ever truly safe.
At 8-2, this should have been the point where everyone leaned back, admired the throwbacks, and started thinking about Saturday. There was no reason after that seventh inning to expect the Angels to bring the winning run to the plate in the ninth. And yet, well, here we were.
Bryan Baker entered for the Rays in the ninth and got Nick Madrigal to strike out, but Logan O’Hoppe walked and Siri singled. Baker struck out Neto for the second out, and it felt like the game might finally settle down or go off the rails in the ninth. Then Trout walked, loading the bases and bringing Grissom to the plate as the tying run. Again, this was an 8-2 game seven outs earlier.
Despite giving up the runs, the vibes in the stands were still festive with Rays Brand Engagement Executive Brett Phillips joning in on the tarps off.
Baker finally ended it by getting Grissom to pop out to Aranda at first, preserving an 8-5 Rays win that somehow felt both convincing and too dramatic. The losing streak was over. The Rays became the first MLB team to reach 20 home wins this season.
It was not perfect. The Rays left early runs on the table, the bullpen made the finish much tighter than it needed to be, and Williamson’s exit is worth monitoring. But it was also exactly the kind of win they needed after a rough stretch.
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The Rays will try to start a new winning streak as they look to get their 12th series win tomorrow, with first pitch at 4:10pm and Drew Rasmussen scheduled to take the mound opposite Reid Detmers.
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