Rays 4, Orioles 5: Late innings heroics squandered in extras

When you have a Tyler Glasnow start, but the young phenom isn’t quite locating his pitches in the zone, you hope like heck the Rays have hot bats.

While the bats were quiet to start the game, things heated up later on, however it wasn’t quite enough to give the Rays the victory in the end.

The Rays started well enough with Yandy Diaz hitting a leadoff single to get the game going, and then with two out, Martinez joined him on the basepaths, but sadly Willy Adames wasn’t able to start the first inning with an RBI.

Glasnow came on and his first inning looked good with a 1-2-3 to the top of the Orioles order. Unfortunately for the Rays, Wade LeBlanc turned in a 1-2-3 of his own and then seems dialled in for the next several innings.

In the second, Glasnow began to show signs of unease, issuing three walks to load the bases, but managing to pitch his way out the the jam. And in the bottom of the third he escaped with a quick four-pitch inning. Things seemed to be turning around, but looks were deceiving.

The bottom of the fourth is where things started to really fall off the tracks for Glasnow as the inning kicked off with a Nunez home run, putting the Orioles on the board. A Smith Jr. single put another man on, and he quickly stole second base. Severino advanced Smith Jr. to third, and a Ruiz single brought him home, giving the O’s a 2-0 lead. Ruiz would eventually advance on a wild pitch by Glasnow, but didn’t score, however it was clear this wasn’t going to be a great outing for Glasnow.

By the fifth, things got turned over to the bullpen with Trevor Richards coming on after Glasnow faced two batters. The final line of the night for Tyler was 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, and 5 K.

The Rays wouldn’t let themselves get shutout, however, as Mike Brosseau hit a solo homer to lead off the sixth, bringing the Rays within one. They also managed to chase a solid LeBlanc from the game and dip into the Orioles bullpen with reliever Evan Philips coming on after 5.1 innings of work from LeBlanc.

Things got uglier for the Rays in the bottom of the sixth. First there was a Nunez walk, then a single to Smith Jr. A Severino single scored Nunez, then a Ruiz sac fly score Smith Jr., giving the Orioles a 4-1 lead.

The seventh was uneventful for both sides, but the Rays got things moving in the eighth. First Wendle singled, then Diaz grounded into a would-be fielder’s choice that ended with both men safe on base and an error against first baseman Armstrong. This brought Ji-Man Choi off the bench as a pinch hitter for Brosseau. Sadly Choi was the first out of the inning. Tsutsugo walked to load the base, and then Martinez singled to score Wendle. (This inning was also the end for Phillips, who was replaced by Shawn Armstrong, who was only able to collect one out).

Miguel Castro came on for the Orioles with one out and the bases loaded, a real opportunity for the Rays to break things open. Brandon Lowe came in as a pinch hitter and a would-be double play turned into a one-out fielder’s choice, and Diaz scored, inching the Rays even closer. Kiermaier was the next pinch hitter for the Rays, and laced a single into the right field gap to tie the game.

Nick Anderson came on for the Rays in the eighth, looking deadly, and made short work of the O’s, once again giving the Rays a chance to get ahead. In what appeared to MAYBE be a hit by pitch to Margot, the team decided to take a look to see if they could get the freebie base, but it was a Mar-no-got.

A Diaz single with two out in the top of the eighth was the end of the game for Castro, replaced by Tanner Scott to face Ji-Man Choi, but nothing else came of the inning.

Diego Castillo came on for the Rays in the ninth, hoping to hold things over for extra innings, which he did. In the tenth the extra innings baserunner was quickly lost on a Tsutsugo flyout with Choi making an aggressive run for third. Scott then issued back to back walks to Martinez and Lowe, and suddenly the Rays were back with a man in scoring position, and Kiermaier was once again in a position to be a hero.

A wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position, sadly Kiermaier struck out to end the inning. The Orioles were quickly able to advance their extra runner to third, but he was soon tagged out trying to hustle home on a Nunez single. A Jose Iglesias popout sent the game to inning eleven and sent this recap on its way towards the thousand word mark.

The top of the eleventh was quickly put down for the Rays. In the bottom of the eleventh, a sac bunt advanced Bryan Holaday to third, and then Ruiz was intentionally walked to put two men on so Drake could face Sisco with one out. Chaz Roe came on in relief of Drake, hoping to collect the final out of the game, but instead gave up a single to Valaika to score Holaday, giving the Orioles a walk off win.

Orioles win 5-4.