F/11, Rays 4, Angels 3: Winners thanks to Walsh’s wild throw

With two games complete in the four-game series against the Angels, the Rays have secured the series split and look to get the series win tonight. Shane McClanahan takes the mound against Mike Mayers.

McClanahan made quick work of the Angels in the first, striking out Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.

Yandy Diaz started things off in the bottom of the first with a single, and he moved up to second after Brandon Lowe moved him up on a single. Randy Arozarena drew a one-out walk to load the bases, but the runners were stranded by the next two hitters to end the inning.

McClanahan allowed a leadoff double in the second, and that runner moved up to third with an out in the inning, but he would stay there after McClanahan struck out and got a groundout of the next two batters. The Rays offense was quiet in the second inning.

Once again McClanahan was solid in the third, needing only 12 pitches to set the Angels down 1-2-3. Brandon Lowe worked a one-out walk to reach base for the second time tonight, but he was out at second on a fielder’s choice, with nobody else reaching after that.

McClanahan was brilliant again in the fourth, again striking out Trout and Ohtani in a 1-2-3 inning. Unfortunately, the offense was quiet again in the fourth.

Taylor Ward reached on a leadoff single in the top of the fifth, but a strikeout from McClanahan and a double play ball got him out of the inning with only nine pitches thrown. The Rays also put a runner on in the bottom-half of the inning, but they, too, grounded into a double play to end the inning.

It took the sixth inning for McClanahan to show any sort of blemish, and he showed it by loading the bases with two outs. He escaped it by getting Luis Rengifo to ground out, keeping the Angels scoreless through six. USF alum Jimmy Herget took the mound for the Angels, and he kept the Rays offense quiet in the sixth.

Shane was done after six great innings of work, being replaced by Ryan Thompson in the seventh. McClanahan threw 90 pitches while striking out nine, he walked one and allowed four hits.

Thompson allowed a single, but recorded two outs before being replace by Colin Poche. Poche loaded the bases with two-straight walks, but got a pop out to avoid any damage against. Former-Ray Aaron Loup was brought in for the Angels, and he set the Rays down 1-2-3.

Jason Adam entered in the eighth, and did the last thing you’d expect: allow the go-ahead run. Mike Trout homered to give the Angels a 1-0 lead, with Adam setting down the next three batters on seven pitches.

The unfortunate side of McClanahan’s great outing is that he received no run support, and with the innings dwindling down, the Rays needed to strike soon. Yandy Diaz started things off by hitting a single, and being replaced on the bases by Jose Siri.

Siri moved up to second on a stolen base, then advanced to third on a groundout by Brandon Lowe. Harold Ramirez hit a grounder to second just hard enough to allow Siri to score, tying this game up 1-1.

The top of the ninth saw Pete Fairbanks strike out two while not allowing any hits, sending this one to the bottom of the ninth. The Rays went down 1-2-3, making this a night with free baseball.

Jalen Beeks was brought in to work the inning with the free runner on second, and he started off great, striking out Jose Rojas and getting David Fletcher to ground out (with free-runner Jared Walsh moving to third).

Beeks did his job again, getting Trout to hit a grounder to Taylor Walls, but Walls made a bad throw to first, allowing Trout to reach and the run to score. Beeks struck out Ohtani to end the inning, but a big mistake allowed the Angels to take the lead.

Isaac Paredes led off with Francisco Mejia at second, and he hit a loud fly out to center, but it moved Mejia up to third for Taylor Walls. Walls did hit job, hitting a sacrifice fly to left and tying this game back up at 2-2. Jose Siri struck out to end the inning.

With JT Chargois on the mound, Taylor Ward hit a one-out double to give the Angels the lead again. That would be the only run allowed by Chargois, as this game moved to the bottom of the 11th.

With Jose Siri starting the inning on second, Brandon Lowe started things off with a walk. Harold Ramirez hit a double to left, scoring Siri. Lowe was held up at third, and was thrown out at home after the next at-bat, when You Chang hit a ball to third. David Peralta hit a ball to first with Harold Ramirez on third, and Jared Walsh spiked the throw home, allowing Ramirez to score and giving the Rays the win.

The Angels, literally, threw the game away, and it resulted in a series win for the Rays. The fourth game of the series takes place tomorrow inside of Tropicana Field with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 pm. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Patrick Sandoval.