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Manuel Margot Delivers Tampa Bay Rays Walk-Off Victory Over Los Angeles Angels

The Tampa Bay Rays trailed the Los Angeles Angels late, but they stayed alive in the AL East race thanks to Manuel Margot's clutch performance at the plate.
Sam Connon|
Manuel Margot Delivers Tampa Bay Rays Walk-Off Victory Over Los Angeles Angels
Manuel Margot Delivers Tampa Bay Rays Walk-Off Victory Over Los Angeles Angels

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Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays escaped with quite the win Thursday afternoon, thanks in large part to veteran center fielder Manuel Margot.

Tampa Bay trailed the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 entering the bottom of the ninth, needing a win to avoid dropping a series on their own home turf. Third baseman Isaac Peredes tied things up with a one-out single to left, and the bases were loaded when Margot stepped up to the plate with two down.

Facing a 1-2 count, Margot blooped a slider into shallow right field. It fell right between first baseman Brandon Drury and right fielder Jo Adell, neither of whom had a chance to throw out first baseman Yandy Diaz at the plate.

The Rays had snatched a victory at the very last moment, improving to 94-60 to remain in the hunt for the AL East crown.

Margot finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with a single, a double and a hit-by-pitch. The 28-year-old outfielder is now batting .256 with three home runs, 34 RBI and a .672 OPS in 91 games this season.

Since returning from a one-month stint injured list on Sept. 15, Margot has yet to miss an inning for Tampa Bay. Margot is batting .333 with four doubles, six RBI, one strikeout and an .860 OPS in that span.

With the victory Thursday, the Rays won the series two games to one. They return to action Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, who are fighting to stay alive in the AL Wild Card race.

First pitch from Tropicana Field is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.

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