Making a quick two-game visit to Dodger Stadium, the Rays and Dodgers set off in the first game of the series in front of a national YouTube audience.
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— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) September 17, 2019
Blake Snell started this game for the Rays in his first game back from injury, facing off against opener Caleb Ferguson for the Dodgers.
In the top of the second, Joey Wendle walked before stealing second base. Wendle advanced to third on a balk by Caleb Ferguson and scored when Willy Adames hit a sacrifice fly.
Snell was fantastic in his two innings of work, striking out four while not allowing any hits or walks. Snell threw 26 pitches in the game, but later went into the bullpen after he was pulled to throw a few more pitches. Oliver Drake threw two innings and struck out two, handing the ball over to Colin Poche to pitch the bottom of the fifth.
Poche walked Cody Bellinger to start the bottom of the fifth before hitting Max Muncy to put two runners on. A stolen base by Bellinger and a groundout that moved Muncy up put both runners in scoring position for Corey Seager, who hit a two-run double into left field to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Chaz Roe entered the game and got out of the inning.
Ji-Man Choi tied this game up with one swing in the top of the sixth, hitting a solo home run to right field off of Pedro Baez. Nick Anderson was brought in to pitch the bottom of the sixth, and he threw a scoreless inning.
The next reliever that would enter the game for the Rays decided not to keep this game tied, as the Dodgers went on an offensive tear in the bottom of the seventh. Pete Fairbanks did nothing but allow runs tonight, allowing three runs on his own before Cole Sulser came in to allow two more runs, although those two were charged against Fairbanks. The seventh inning finally ended at 1:20 in the morning.
The offense showed some signs of life in the top of the eighth against Kenta Maeda, with Austin Meadows hitting a one-out double to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and Travis d’Arnaud driving him home with a single. Jesus Aguilar was brought in to hit in the pitcher’s spot and hit a two-run home run to right center field, cutting LA’s lead down to 7-5.
Jansen got out of the eighth inning without allowing any additional runs, and stayed in to pitch the top of the ninth, trying to close this one out for the Dodgers and earn a save. Jansen did just that, securing the win for the Dodgers and decreasing the Rays’ lead in the second wild card spot to only half a game.
The Rays will try and split the series, as well as the season series against the Dodgers, tomorrow night, with first pitch set for 8:10 pm and Brendan McKay on the mound against Tony Gonsolin.