'Crazy game, right?' Rays' luck turns again

ST. PETERSBURG -- Over the past week and a half, the Rays have understandably felt they were on the wrong end of some bad breaks and tough luck. Dropping a season-high seven straight games prior to Wednesday, they lost four games in extra innings, three walk-offs and three one-run defeats. A few better bounces, or a few more timely hits, could have turned plenty of those losses into wins.

So it’s fair to say the Rays were due for some better fortune. They’ve seen it go their way the past two nights. After beating the Red Sox on a walk-off wild pitch on Thursday night, the Rays’ 4-3 win on Friday night turned on a few Angels misplays, a high pop-up to shallow left field and a go-ahead hit-by-pitch.

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However their chances came about, the Rays made the most of them as they improved to 46-31 on the year with their third consecutive victory.

“Really thrilled with the offense getting guys on base early on, coming up with some big hits and capitalizing on whatever opportunities [were] presented,” said Kevin Cash, who won his 500th game as Tampa Bay’s manager. “This is now back-to-back nights where you don't think you're going to win games on a wild pitch and a hit-by-pitch, but we'll take it.”

Early on, it didn’t necessarily seem like the kind of night that would turn on an Austin Meadows pop-up with a .010 expected batting average, according to Statcast, or a 77.7 mph slider that hit Brandon Lowe in the leg to force in the winning run.

The Angels began the game with a pair of loud home runs off Rays opener Andrew Kittredge, with Shohei Ohtani crushing a 453-foot homer off the Trop’s D-ring catwalk before Anthony Rendon pulled another solo shot out to left field.

But Tampa Bay took the lead right back, taking advantage of a rough first inning by Griffin Canning and the first of a few misplays by left fielder Taylor Ward. Yandy Díaz singled and Ji-Man Choi walked to begin the game, then Wander Franco’s fly ball to left field bounced off Ward’s glove, allowing Díaz to score. Meadows then delivered a two-run single to left, putting the Rays back on top.

“For us to respond like we did, especially in the first inning, being able to get right back at it and put some runs on the board was huge,” said Meadows, who finished the night 3-for-4 and boosted his team-leading RBI total to 54.

The Angels tied it up against left-hander Josh Fleming in the third, however, as David Fletcher hit a leadoff double and eventually scored when catcher Francisco Mejía dropped the ball on a play at the plate. But Fleming settled the game down after that, not allowing another baserunner until he walked Max Stassi with two outs in the sixth and exited in favor of right-hander Collin McHugh.

“Anytime they're going in the game, I know they're going to lock it down for us, and that's what they did,” Fleming said.

McHugh gave up a double but, sure enough, struck out José Iglesias to end the sixth. That gave the Rays time to pull ahead in unusual fashion in the seventh. Díaz and Choi worked a pair of walks against lefty José Suarez, then Franco flied out to left for the first out. Up came Meadows, who hit a high fly ball to shallow left field. Three Angels fielders converged on the play, but Rendon and Iglesias peeled off and left Ward alone ... only for the ball to drop right in front of him for a single to load the bases.

“When the other team gives you an inch, it seems like we've been so good throughout most of this year of taking a mile from it. And it felt like that tonight, that we just capitalized in the right way,” Cash said. “But ultimately, it comes down to putting pressure on the defense, having some guys on base. You don't get those moments if guys aren't on base.”

Meadows said he heard Ward call for the ball but couldn’t explain what happened afterward. Angels manager Joe Maddon acknowledged it was “a play we should’ve made,” but also argued that the ball “was in that area that could’ve or should’ve” invoked the infield fly rule.

“Obviously that was the play of the game. We had a tough day in the outfield,” Maddon said. “The roof can be problematic, as we all know. It's not an easy place to play the outfield if you haven't played here.”

The umpiring crew didn’t agree, leaving the bases loaded, so Maddon turned to his bullpen again and brought in right-hander Steve Cishek to face Manuel Margot. Cash countered with Lowe as a pinch-hitter, giving Tampa Bay the matchup it wanted. After taking one slider for a ball and fouling off a sinker, Lowe was plunked by a slider.

Lowe rubbed his leg before walking to first base, but the pain was probably worth it to bring home the winning run in another unusual victory for the Rays.

“Crazy game, right?” Meadows said.