Rays Rally Late Over and Over, Steal Win From Angels in 11 Innings
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The music was blaring again in the Tampa Bay Rays locker room on Wednesday night after a dramatic 4-3 victory in 11 innings over the Los Angeles Angels that had a boatload of twists and turns and comebacks down the stretch.
Rays starter Shane McClanahan was standing at his locker and smiling when the media arrived. "I don't know why you want to talk to me,'' he said with a laugh. "It felt like it was yesterday that I pitched.''
It certainly felt like it, in a 3 hour, 40 minute game that ended just before 11 p.m. But McClanahan deserved a conversation, because he was his usual fabulous self, pitching six scoreless innings and striking out nine Angels hitters.
The problem, though, was that the game was still scoreless when he left. There was still drama that needed to play out.
And there was plenty of it.
It started in the top of the eighth when Angels superstar Mike Trout hit a solo home run off of the Rays reliever Jason Adam, who's been the best bullpen arm all season. He came into the game with a 1.07 ERA and hadn't allowed a run since July 16, a stretch of 13-plus innings. Trout's homer on a 2-0 pitch, his 27th of the year, went 406 feet deep into the left field seats.
"I threw him a slider, looking for strike, and he was probably looking for it,'' Adam said. "Maybe it was the wrong pitch, I don't know. I could have gone change-up, but I also didn't want to think about trying to beat him with a heater.
"Look, that's not going to be the last homer he hits, and it's probably not going to be the last homer I give up, either. It's baseball, and it happens. But it was also just one run, and I had confidence our guys could get it back.''
They did, and quickly — emphasis on quickly. In the bottom of the inning, Yandy Diaz led off with a single, and Jose Siri came on to pinch run. He stole second on the first pitch, and went to third on a slow ground ball to second by Brandon Lowe.
Harold Ramirez, who's been the Rays' best bat all year, then hit an 0-1 pitch hard to second baseman David Fletcher, who threw home. But the speedy Siri was too fast, and beat the throw to tie the game at 1-1.
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The game went to extra innings, and there was plenty of drama there, too. Jalen Beeks pitched the 10th for the Rays and got two quick outs. It looked like he had the third out, too, but usually sure-handed shortstop Taylor Walls short-hopped a throw to Isaac Paredes at first on a Trout ground ball. Paredes couldn't handle it, and the placed runner, Jared Walsh, scored from third. It was ruled an error on Paredes, but was changed to Walls, though both were at fault. It was Walls' first error since June 26,
"I just didn't follow through with the throw,'' Walls said. "I didn't have a good grip on the ball and didn't accelerate through it. I threw a change-up to Isaac and he couldn't handle it. I haven't had one of those in a while.''
They both made up for it in the bottom of the 10th, though. Paredes led off the inning with a long fly ball to center field that advanced placed runner Francisco Mejia to third. Walls then hit a deep ball to left, and Mejia scored to make it 2-2.
The Angels got another run in the 11th off of JT Chargois, who was pitching for the second straight day after four months on the injured list. He gave up a one-out double to Taylor Ward, but then got a lineout and a strikeout of Jared Walsh to halt any further damage.
In the bottom of the 11th, Lowe walked and Ramirez doubled to left, scoring Siri to tie the game at 3-3. Yu Chang hit a grounder to third, and Lowe was cut down at home. But then David Peralta made contact and hit a grounder to Phil Gosselin at first. His throw home was wild, and Ramirez slid home safety to score the game-winner. It was the first time the Rays walked-off with a win on an error since 2018.
"There's no quit in this team. They all battle their butts off,'' McClanahan said of the Rays hitters grinding out at-bats late. "Harold's been doing that all year. We're lucky to have him.
"We've got a culture of winning here, and no one is content unless we win. We come to the park every day with that intent to win.''
McClanahan cruised through the first five innings, allowing just two hits. Things got a bit hairy in the sixth though, when Angels second baseman David Fletcher reached on an infield hit, Mike Trout singled to left-center and Shohei Ohtani walked to load the bases. But McClanahan coaxed a ground ball to second out of Luis Rengifo to end the threat, a fist-pumped his way to the dugout.
"I didn't want to give them any runs,'' said McClanahan, who lowered his ERA to 2.20.
The 27-pitch inning drove his count up to 90, though, so Ryan Thompson came on to pitch the seventh. He got the first two outs, and then gave way to Colin Poche. He walked two batters but then got Fletcher to pop out to keep the game scoreless.
Back in May, McClanahan pitched seven scoreless innings against the Angels, allowing just three hits in a 4-2 Rays win in extra innings. He left that game with a 2-0 lead, but didn't get the win when Andrew Kittredge allowed a two-run homer by Taylor Ward in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.
With the win, the Rays are now 10-2 in their last 12 games, and are 68-55 on the season. They are a season-high 13 games over .500, and are now just 7 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees, gaining 7 1/2 games in the past three-plus weeks.
It's their fourth straight series win, the first time they've done that all year.
Chargois got the win, becoming the 23rd Rays pitcher to win a game this season, the highest total in the major. "Those are really tough situations,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "I was really pumped for Shaggy, being the new guy just coming back. That's a big moment. that you try not to put a guy in right when they come back. He gave up that hit for the run, but then really locked it down.''
The two teams wrap up the season series on Thursday afternoon, with Drew Rasmussen (8-4, 2.82 ERA) taking on Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval (4-8, 3.14 ERA). Sandoval will be the third lefty to start a game for the Angels during this series.
After the game, the Rays will head to Boston for a three-game series with the Red Sox.
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Tom Brew is the publisher of Inside The Rays, and has been with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation network for three years. He is an award-winning writer and editor who has spent most of his four-decade career at the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has written four books.