Unrelenting Rays rally thrice for 5th straight win

ST. PETERSBURG -- At three points on Wednesday night, the Rays looked to be in line for a frustrating one-run loss to the Angels. And three times, they rallied back.

They would not go down without a fight, not when they’ve been playing so well lately.

The Rays erased three one-run deficits from the eighth inning onward and ultimately walked off with a 4-3 victory in the 11th, when Harold Ramírez doubled in the tying run then slid home to score the winning run on David Peralta’s chopper to first base. Their persistence paid off as they pulled out their fifth straight win and their 10th in the past 12 games.

“I've been saying it all year,” Rays ace Shane McClanahan said. “This team doesn't quit.”

They needed every bit of that perseverance in this game, because runs did not come easy. After exploding for 11 runs on Tuesday night, Tampa Bay left the bases loaded in the first inning, then managed only one more hit before the eighth. Fortunately for the Rays, McClanahan was at the top of his game, too.

The left-hander struck out nine over six scoreless innings, punctuating his outing by stranding the bases loaded in the sixth. But when he slapped his glove and walked off the mound, it was still a scoreless game.

“To come in and pull that one out, especially when the bats weren't there early, is huge,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “Every game matters, especially at this point. It's going to be a tight race, and we need every win.”

The Angels and Rays traded runs in the eighth. After driving in the Angels’ only two runs in the first two games of the series, Mike Trout wreaked more havoc Wednesday against Jason Adam, one of the Majors’ best high-leverage relievers. Adam left a 2-0 slider over the plate, and Trout launched it over the left-field wall to break a scoreless tie.

That lead was short-lived, however, as Jose Siri used his speed to tie it up. The energetic outfielder pinch-ran for Yandy Díaz, who led off the eighth with a single, and immediately stole second base.

Even with the Angels’ infield drawn in with one out, Siri made a perfect break from third on Ramírez’s grounder, dashing home to beat Luis Rengifo’s throw. Siri sprung to his feet and unleashed a massive fist pump.

“For me, that was the highlight of the game,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I mean, if you're a fan, what else do you want to see? He pinch-runs, he steals on the first pitch, and then [on] the contact play, they did everything right. He was just better.”

The two clubs traded runs again in the 10th. The Rays let left-hander Jalen Beeks pitch to Trout with two outs and a runner on third, and Trout hit a routine grounder to Walls -- the typically sure-handed shortstop -- that should have ended the inning.

But Walls said he got a bad grip on the ball, didn’t follow through on the throw and “threw like a changeup” to first baseman Isaac Paredes, who couldn’t scoop the low throw cleanly. That allowed Trout to reach safely and Walsh to score on Walls’ error.

Paredes and Walls quickly bounced back to redeem themselves, however. Paredes’ fly ball to center pushed Francisco Mejía to third, and Walls lofted a game-tying sacrifice fly to left.

“Honestly, just kind of took a second to try to clear my mind a little bit. Pretty tough,” Walls said. “I wouldn't say I was probably 100% clear-minded at the plate, but I was trying to do my best to just try to have a clear approach.”

But in the 11th, the Rays fell behind again when reliever JT Chargois gave up a one-out RBI double to Taylor Ward. Cash admitted that was a tough situation for Chargois, two days removed from coming off the 60-day injured list and pitching for the second straight night with the score tied in extras, but he gave the Rays a chance by limiting the Angels to one run.

Ramírez came through with an RBI double, his first career game-tying hit in extras. After Brandon Lowe was cut down at the plate, Peralta’s high-hopping chopper to first forced an errant throw from Walsh that gave Ramírez time to slide past the plate, scramble back as the ball skidded past catcher Max Stassi and set off Tampa Bay’s hard-earned late-night celebration.

“I think that was more lucky than anything else,” Peralta said, smiling. “The biggest thing is we got the win. We battled the whole game.”