No deficit 'too big' for comeback Rays

BOSTON -- Tied with the Red Sox in the fourth inning Tuesday night, Rays right-hander Luis Patiño issued a two-out walk to Kevin Plawecki then served up a three-run homer to Hunter Renfroe. The 21-year-old starter was frustrated, Rays manager Kevin Cash said, but nobody else in Tampa Bay’s dugout was.

And why should they have been? There was no reason for anger or concern, certainly not for panic. The way the Rays have been playing, the game has barely begun until they have a deficit to erase.

Down by three after four innings, Tampa Bay chipped away in the sixth, tied it up in the seventh and pulled ahead in the ninth inning of an 8-4 win over Boston in front of a Fenway Park crowd of 28,356. It was the Rays’ Major League-leading 36th come-from-behind victory, accounting for more than half of their American League-best 69 wins overall this season. They’ve trailed in all five games during their current winning streak.

Coming back to win games is simply what these Rays do.

“There's no one that's going to look at the score and say, 'Ah, you know what, this one's out of reach. Let's pack it in for the night,’” said second baseman Brandon Lowe, who went 3-for-4 with a homer (his 25th) in the third and an RBI single in the ninth. “I don't think there's one person in our locker room that thinks that there's too big of a deficit to come back from, honestly.”

There is no secret formula, no magical explanation for the Rays’ knack for comebacks. They just pitch well enough to keep their deficits within reach for a lineup that puts together good at-bats -- especially late in games. That’s how it played out again in Tuesday night’s series opener, as Tampa Bay increased its lead over Boston in the AL East to a season-high five games.

“I think we just don't ever give up. I know [Kevin] Kiermaier says it all the time,” Francisco Mejía, who had the tie-breaking hit in the ninth, said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “If the other team scores 10 runs, we're not going to give up and we're going to keep on battling.”

The Rays didn’t allow another run after Renfroe’s home run off Patiño. The righty completed two more innings, finishing the night with seven strikeouts while throwing a career-high 103 pitches. Andrew Kittredge’s fantastic season continued with two scoreless innings, and Louis Head pitched a clean ninth to seal the victory.

Their work on the mound gave the Rays’ lineup enough time to do what it seems to do best. The latest late-starting rally was in character for Tampa Bay, as the Rays lead the Majors with 221 runs scored in the seventh inning or later and an MLB-best 94 run differential after the sixth.

They got one run back in the sixth against Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez, as Mike Zunino doubled to left-center and eventually scored on an RBI single by Wander Franco. They tied it up in the seventh, a rally that began with Manuel Margot smacking a single down the right-field line off reliever Garrett Whitlock.

Lowe doubled off the Green Monster in left to put two runners in scoring position. Up came left-handed pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi, batting for the righty Zunino and mired in a career-long 0-for-19 slump. Choi swatted a low, 98.8-mph sinker off the Monster for a game-tying double, giving him six hits and six RBIs in seven at-bats as a pinch-hitter this season.

“We've got a bunch of guys who have a knack for having quality at-bats,” Cash said. “There’s just a lot of confidence in their ability to get deep in counts. If they [fall] behind, they’ve shown the ability to even it back out and find ways to get big hits.”

They had a few more of them, and a couple more tough at-bats, in the ninth.

Randy Arozarena began the Rays’ game-winning rally against Matt Barnes with a ground-rule double to right. Franco worked a one-out, seven-pitch walk and Austin Meadows loaded the bases with a two-out walk.

“One of the things that this team is very good at is not trying to be bigger than who you are,” Lowe said. “We're going up there and we're having good at-bats and having good team at-bats. No one's going up there being selfish in an at-bat.”

Up came Mejía, who entered the game to catch after Choi pinch-hit for Zunino. Mejía said he learned how to get ready for late-inning at-bats during his time playing under National League rules in San Diego, which has served him well for a Tampa Bay team that aggressively deploys its bench players.

Mejía laced a line drive to right that scored Arozarena and Franco, and a misplay by Renfroe in right field gave Meadows time to score from first. It was Mejía’s third game-tying or go-ahead RBI in the ninth inning or later this season, and his clutch hit came as no surprise to anyone in the Rays’ jubilant dugout.

“I think everybody had the belief that he was going to do something good, something productive in that at-bat and at least drive in one,” Lowe said. “For him to drive in three is probably why everyone was so excited.”

The way the Rays are playing right now, why shouldn’t they have been excited?