Rays Baseball: A Crazy Ending and Sweep Over Arizona 8-7

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The Tampa Bay Rays came into the final game of a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. They won the series’ first two games against the team leading the league in runs scored. With the victory, the Rays secured their 21st series victory and the 11th at Tropicana Field.

The offense has been great in those two games scoring 4+ runs. One of the main reasons and complaints why they were not winning. The pitching was strong again as Jeffrey Springs threw five innings giving up one run. A milestone for manager Kevin Cash happened yesterday becoming the sixth active manager with 800+ wins. He joins a group that includes the Colorado Rockies, Bud Black, Texas Rangers’ Bruce Bochy, Detriot Tigers’ A.J. Hinch, San Francisco Giants’ Bob Melvin, and Los Angeles Dodgers’ Dave Roberts.

The game matchup saw Merrill Kelly for the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks who came in with a 3-0 record, a 2.43 ERA, and 23 strikeouts. The Rays countered with Drew Rasmussen who is coming off the injured list last week. He has a 0-0 record with a 5.40 ERA and six strikeouts. Arizona wore their road all-grey jerseys with black caps. Tampa was wearing baby blue tops, white pants, and navy blue caps.

Outfielder Jose Siri has found himself in manager Kevin Cash’s doghouse as he has not started one game since Wednesday’s game versus the Astros. The reason was he never ran first he just fast walked and the fans were not happy. The Rays got on the board first as Bradon Lowe hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the third. Yandy Diaz left after suffering with a left forearm contusion.

MLB was doing something this weekend allowing the players to design their bats and gear. It was cool to see all the different cleat designs and bats the players were wearing and swinging. Jose Caballero hit a two-run RBI double to increase the score to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth. As the game moved into the final four innings the Rays found themselves leading 5-0.

Throughout the series, the Diamondbacks have had errors and wild pitches and another one happened again. Mantiply threw a wild pitch and Jonny Deluca scored after he and Taylor Walls had a double steal. With that run, the Rays took a 6-0 lead. Arizona bats came alive in the top of the seventh with back-to-back singles and then a walk. Jake McCarthy hit a sac fly to put them on the board.

The Diamondbacks drew closer with a two-run home run from Corbin Carroll. The score was 6-3. There was a series of injuries in the game for both teams for the Rays Yandy Diaz and closer Pete Fairbanks. The Diamondbacks lost Ketel Marte after he lost his balance and hurt his ankle. Fairbanks left with what looked like a hurt shoulder. Even with all of that, Adrian Del Castillo hit a three-run home run to tie the game at six in the top of the ninth.

The game went into extras and Arizona got on the board. Tampa Bay tied it up at seven to force an 11th inning. In the bottom of the 12th, Dylan Carlson singled and Alex Jackson scored and the Rays swept the Diamondbacks. It was a great game for Brandon Lowe going 2 for 5 for two RBI’s on a homerun. This was a good series for Tampa Bay.

Was this a bounce-back series for the Tampa Bay Rays? Leave a comment below.

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