After settling nerves, Rays rookie delivers in clutch

ST. PETERSBURG -- Rays rookie second baseman Osleivis Basabe really wanted to be the hero in Tuesday night’s game against the Angels at Tropicana Field. It was evident throughout his pivotal at-bat in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Who could blame him? With the bases loaded in a tie game late, this was one of the biggest spots of Basabe’s career, which spans all of 24 games.

“I was a little anxious going into the at-bat, especially after having a couple of strikeouts earlier in the day,” Basabe said via team interpreter Manny Navarro.

And then, after taking a moment to collect himself while facing an 0-2 count, the 23-year-old came through with the decisive hit in the Rays’ 6-2 victory as he laced a go-ahead two-run double over center fielder Brett Phillips. It was the first game-winning hit in the eighth inning or later of Basabe’s short time in the Majors.

As Basabe arrived at second base, he celebrated with a huge fist pump toward Tampa Bay’s dugout.

“It was incredible,” Basabe said, “especially after [the at-bat] started the way it did. Every person is trying to put their little grain of sand, as you would say, into this game and try to help the team win any way we can.”

• Games remaining (10): vs. LAA (2), vs. TOR (3), at BOS (2), at TOR (3)
• Standings update: The Orioles (95-56) hold a 2 1/2-game lead over the Rays (93-59) for first place in the American League East. Baltimore controls the head-to-head tiebreaker against Tampa Bay. The Rays still hold a comfortable advantage in the AL Wild Card race over the Blue Jays (84-67), Rangers (83-68) and Mariners (83-68).
• Postseason status: Clinched a playoff berth

When the at-bat started, Basabe -- the Rays’ No. 6 prospect -- looked every bit like an anxious young player in the moment. Reliever Aaron Loup opened the faceoff with a couple of changeups that landed far outside the strike zone. Basabe whiffed at the first and tapped the second one foul.

Basabe knew he needed to slow things down, so he signaled for time.

“I was trying to calm myself,” Basabe said. “That's why I called timeout, and take a breath and kind of try to regroup.”

Basabe then reached for another pitch wide of the plate, but he was able to fight it off. Loup’s fourth offering, however, was an elevated sinker that got a lot of the zone. The rookie jumped on it.

“I knew I hit it well,” Basabe said. “I didn't realize [Phillips] was playing so far in, but once I saw him running back, I knew I had gotten it well.”

“Sometimes, you want to do something big right out of the gate, and I don't fault [Basabe] for that,” manager Kevin Cash said. “I'm just really impressed that he was able to get on top of the fastball that he did.”

Catcher René Pinto followed with a two-run single to give the Rays more breathing room.

Tampa Bay jumped out to a 2-0 lead just five pitches into the bottom of the first. Yandy Díaz opened with a double to left-center and advanced to third as Phillips bobbled the ball in center. Randy Arozarena then struck for his 23rd homer of the season -- a Statcast-projected 403-foot dinger to left-center field.

The Rays’ bats went quiet from there as they were held to no runs, four hits and two hard-hit balls over the next six innings. But rookie right-hander Taj Bradley kept the Angels at bay as he turned in one of his better outings of the season. He allowed only one run on three hits over five frames and 82 pitches (56 strikes). He struck out six and walked just one.

Bradley had one slip-up -- a solo home run to Logan O’Hoppe in the fourth -- but it was a vast improvement from his previous two starts, which saw him permit eight runs on 10 hits (including five home runs) and five walks.

“He needed an outing like that,” Cash said.

Robert Stephenson served up a game-tying homer to Zach Neto in the top of the eighth. But thanks to Basabe, the game wouldn’t be tied for long.

The Rays know they need to play extremely well over the final couple of weeks of the regular season to have any chance of catching the Orioles atop the AL East. Even then, that might not be enough to earn Tampa Bay its third division title in the past four seasons.

But the importance of racking up victories during this closing stretch can’t be overstated, especially compared to how the club finished last season.

The Rays lost their final five regular-season games after clinching in 2022, then proceeded to lose both games of their AL Wild Card Series vs. Cleveland. After securing their ‘23 playoff spot on Sunday in Baltimore, Tampa Bay is confident this regular season will end differently.

“We know that last year after we clinched, we weren't able to win any of the games. We knew that it was tough to get to Cleveland last year,” Arozarena said via Navarro. “This is a whole new team. It's 2023. We’re going to come in here a little bit more focused.”