Rays Rally To Win Game Two Against The Rockies

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The Tampa Bay Rays came off a huge win Tuesday night over the Colorado Rockies. One of the biggest plays was a home run by rookie Osleivis Basabe, a grand slam. That helped cap a 12-4 win over the Rockies. Basabe is up for the Rays AAA team the Durham Bulls. He is here because Wander Franco has been placed on MLB administrative leave until the investigation against him is concluded by MLB. In the game, Tampa Bay had nine runs in the eighth inning to defeat Colorado. This win also got them closer to the first-place Baltimore Orioles who now only have a two-game lead on the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rockies dropped to an MLB-worst 20-44 on the road.

Last night’s game featured starting pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays Aaron Civale who was brought over at the trade deadline from the Cleveland Guardians. The Colorado Rockies countered with Austin Gomber. Civale had a 2.44 ERA and Gomber had a 5.52 ERA. Around Tropicana Field, the team already removed many banners that featured Wander Franco. The investigation is still ongoing and the team is doing the right thing by keeping it quiet. The Rockies entered the game with the third-worst record in MLB. The Rays on the other hand were looking to get closer to the Baltimore Orioles. The Tampa Bay Rays took early batting practice but I got to see the Rockies and they seemed very relaxed pre-game.

The crowd at Tropicana Field was sparse, to say the least. It was a humid 97 degrees outside and the rain came rolling in. Sadly, the Rays are only two games out of first place in the AL East and no one comes to the games. The first pitch took place at 6:40 p.m. The Tampa Bay Rays opened up the scoring as Randy Arozarena hit a homer to left field in the bottom of the third inning. In the fourth inning, the Rays were launching the balls but they just were fly balls. The Rockies tied the game with a home run to left field off the bat of Elias Diaz in the top of the fifth inning. Civale bounced back after the homer and struck out the side to end the top half of the inning.

The bottom half had some exciting moments. First, Josh Lowe flew out to deep center field, and then Christian Bethancourt hit a double off the left field wall. The next batter, Yandy Diaz hit a single and Bethancourt came around and scored which made it 2-1. Cevile was taken out by manager Kevin Cash in the top of the sixth and he finished with nine strikeouts. The Rockies loaded the bases in the top of the sixth and with a single from Elias Diaz it put them ahead 3-2. Elehuris Montero was hit by Andrew Kittredge bringing in another run to extend Colorado’s lead to 4-2. The next batter got one run in only to have the runner behind him get thrown out at home plate. The Rockies had a 5-2 lead headed into the bottom of the sixth.

The Tampa Bay Rays struck back in the bottom of the sixth with a home run off the bat of Isaac Paredes to cut into the Rockies lead 5-3. The Rays tried and scored more runs but the inning ended with a 6-4-3 double play. The Rays got 10 strikeouts which meant the fans in attendance and the ones watching at home got free pizza from Papa John’s. In the top of the seventh Ryan McMahon got into it with the home plate umpire then proceeded to break his bat on a comebacker to the pitcher who threw out the runner on second for an inning-ending double play. The game headed into the final two innings with the Rockies holding the lead, 5-3.

The crowd was silenced by the play of the field and you could hear Colorado Rockies fans cheering. The attendance was announced at 12,001 but there should have been more fans. The Rays did nothing in the bottom of the eighth and trailed by two runs heading into the final frame. The Rays loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth. With the crowd getting excited, Yandy Diaz came with a big hit. With his hit, the game was tied 5-5. Rockies pitcher Justin Lawrence looked shell-shocked throughout the ninth. There was a play that looked like Isaac Paredes was safe but the call at first was confirmed and the game headed into extra innings.

In the top of the tenth Rays pitcher Pete Fairbanks came in and mowed down the Rockies one-two-three. Bradon Lowe came up and roped a single to right field to give the Tampa Bay Rays the win 6-5. The crowd went crazy. This game was back and forth and once again the Rays rallied. At the post-game press conference, manager Kevin Cash was very happy with how the team played. These are the types of games that will be remembered as the Rays move on to the playoffs…

Here is part of the post-game presser with coach Kevin Cash

What are your thoughts on the Rays rallying to win? Leave a comment below.

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