'Big Bopper' Wendle? Rays INF blasts key HR

For the first 15 innings of the season, the Rays’ offense was limited to two Austin Meadows home runs. With the way they pitched, that was enough. But when their pitching and defense finally faltered in the seventh inning Friday night in Miami, they needed to step up.

And they did. In a hurry.

Down by two entering the ninth inning, the Rays put together a stunningly quick rally to come back and beat the Marlins, 6-4, at loanDepot park. Joey Wendle had the biggest hit, a go-ahead three-run homer off Anthony Bass, in a rally that spoke to the depth of their lineup and the resiliency they showed throughout last season.

“It's a good group, and they recognize that we're not out of tight ballgames,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got guys that can put together good at-bats, get on base and have our Big Bopper, Joey Wendle, come up and hit a three-run homer.”

Cash noted with a grin that Wendle, with 17 homers in 301 Major League games, likes to cast himself alongside Meadows as the “Bash Brothers.” But now he’s the Rays’ Big Bopper? Is that the way he feels?

“Well, tonight I did,” Wendle said, laughing.

But for much of the night, it seemed like the Rays’ second game of the season would follow the same script as Opening Day.

Ryan Yarbrough delivered a strong start, just as Tyler Glasnow did on Thursday. The lefty said he couldn’t find his rhythm mechanically, but it hardly showed in the way he pitched. Yarbrough gave up four hits and struck out three without a walk, cruising through 5 2/3 innings on only 65 pitches.

Meadows homered to break up a scoreless tie for the second time in as many games, this time hitting a solo shot to right in the sixth inning off Richard Bleier. And Cash called upon Tampa Bay’s bullpen to protect a late, one-run lead.

The last part didn’t go according to plan. Pete Fairbanks finished the sixth inning and Chaz Roe quickly rang up two strikeouts to begin the seventh, but four straight Marlins hitters reached against Roe and lefty Ryan Sherriff with two outs in the seventh. Then Miami scratched across another run in the eighth, putting Tampa Bay in a two-run hole.

“We've got a very good offense. They're going to get going -- maybe that gets them going,” Cash said. “But that’s just how much they care about each other. Whether it's pitching, defense or offense, they totally recognized that we do things together. When we're winning games, it takes a lot of contributions.”

This time, the Rays needed their lineup to pick up their pitching.

The foundation of the Rays’ success has been and likely will continue to be run prevention. But Wendle said during Spring Training that their lineup could win games for them this year, noting not only the depth of the position player group but the number of ways they could beat teams. And he helped prove it Friday night.

“I felt like with the pitching performances that we've had the first two nights, it's almost like everybody kind of wanted to be the guy to break out of our little hitting funk there to start the season,” Wendle said. “It was good to be that guy tonight.”

After Randy Arozarena’s groundout put them two outs away from their first loss of the season, the offense came to life in a hurry. Brandon Lowe and Yandy Díaz got things going with back-to-back singles, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Wendle said he’d noticed that Bass was leaving pitches up in the zone, so he was waiting for one he could drive.

After fouling off a first-pitch fastball and taking the next two pitches, Wendle launched a hanging splitter 385 feet out to right field.

“I feel like that's kind of how our team is built, like anyone on any given day can step up and help us win the ballgame,” Yarbrough said. “It's exciting to see that and just huge for Joey and just the whole team not to give in or anything like that, keep battling and then come back and win the ballgame.”

Manuel Margot kept the rally going, lashing the first pitch he saw to center and speeding around the bases for a triple to pair with his solo homer in the seventh inning. His hustle essentially created an insurance run, as he immediately came around to score on Francisco Mejía’s sacrifice fly.

The rally came quickly: five batters, 11 pitches, four runs. Then all of a sudden, Diego Castillo was trotting in from the bullpen to lock down his second save and secure the fourth 2-0 start in the Rays’ 24-year franchise history.

“Just the focus later in the games and understanding that this is baseball, and it's never over,” Wendle said. “I think I credit just the guys' persistence and focus throughout the game, and that that pays off over the course of a long season.”