'Manny Mar-go-ahead' strikes again with clutch HR

SEATTLE -- “Manny Mar-go-ahead” was at it again Friday night.

With two on, one out and the Rays trailing by a run in the ninth inning at T-Mobile Park, outfielder Manuel Margot stepped to the plate to face Mariners reliever Paul Sewald. Margot was supposed to have the night off, and he was only hitting in that spot because he entered the game in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement in left field.

But there he was, with the game on the line. At this point, where else would you want him?

Two days after hitting a tie-breaking, two-run single in the eighth inning of the Rays’ win against the A’s, he delivered in the clutch again. Margot crushed a 1-1 fastball out to center field for a go-ahead three-run homer. The Rays held on to secure an 8-7 triumph, their fifth straight win and their 12th victory in their last 16 games.

“I feel like Manny’s gotten a lot of big hits since he's been a Ray,” manager Kevin Cash said. “He’s strung them together here as of late quite a bit. Wasn't in the lineup, put him in basically for defense … and lo and behold, we get fortunate that he comes up to the plate with guys on.”

Yes, there’s a reason fellow outfielders Kevin Kiermaier and Brett Phillips have taken to calling him “Manny Mar-go-ahead.” He seems to have a knack for timely, clutch hits.

It was the eighth time in the 27-year-old's career that he recorded the go-ahead hit in the eighth inning or later -- and the third time this season alone, as he also had a walk-off single against the A’s on April 12 to go along with Wednesday’s game-winner. Margot has five game-winning RBIs this season, tied with Manny Machado for second-most in the Majors behind the Angels’ Taylor Ward (who has six).

How does he do it? Margot said it’s a product of his preparation. The way the Rays use their roster, anybody can get into any game at any point. He knows that as well as anybody, comparing it to a National League style of play before the adoption of the universal DH. That knowledge helped him stay ready on Friday, when he came in as a defensive replacement for Harold Ramírez, who only started in left field because a left knee issue bumped Randy Arozarena to the DH spot.

The rest might just be Margot’s nature.

“I just try to be competitive out there,” Margot said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “You don't know what's going to happen in situations like that, but as long as you just stay there, I think you can be OK.”

Margot’s first home run of the season capped the Rays’ third comeback effort in Friday’s wild, back-and-forth game. They were down by two after one inning but rallied for three runs in the second inning off Mariners righty Logan Gilbert, April’s American League Pitcher of the Month, with a trio of RBI singles to center field.

“This team, we never give up. We never quit fighting,” said Arozarena, who went 4-for-5, through Navarro. “We keep on battling all the way through. You never know who's gonna be the next person to come [through]. We work hard, and that's what got us the victory.”

They fell behind again in the fourth, but Arozarena -- with a double at the plate and some heads-up baserunning on a bizarre play -- tied it in the fifth. They pulled ahead by a run in the seventh, only to fall behind in the eighth on Jarred Kelenic’s pinch-hit, two-run homer off Ryan Thompson. But the Rays would not go down quietly, even on a rare off-night for their pitching staff.

“Our bullpen has just been lights-out for us,” Cash said, “and tonight it was good to see the offense kind of pick them up a little bit, with Seattle kind of clawing back like we've known that they do.”

Comebacks seem to come with the territory for a team that’s recorded 52 come-from-behind wins since the start of last season, even at a ballpark where they blew four leads and suffered three walk-off losses in a four-game series a year ago.

“We feel like we're a good team,” Cash said. “You'd like to win those tight ballgames -- and we've lost our share of one-run ballgames here in the past, so hopefully it's evening out for us.”

After Wander Franco lined out for the first out of the ninth, Arozarena reached on a single to left and Brandon Lowe swatted a single up the middle. That brought up Margot, described by Phillips after Wednesday’s performance as “the most underrated player in the league” and, yes, “Manny Mar-go-ahead.”

Considering what he did Friday, again, it’s tough to argue with either label.

“I think we're a competitive team,” Margot said. “I think we've always been a very competitive team, and the other team's got to make 27 outs in order for us to lose.”