Shaky Finish, But Rays Hold On to Take Series Finale From A's, 6-5

TAMPA, Fla. — Even though they staggered to the finish line, the Tampa Bay Rays picked up a huge victory Wednesday, beating the Athletics 6-5 at Steinbrenner Field. It's just one win, of course, but with a 10-game road trip looming, they couldn't afford a sweep.

They got their first win against the A's this week thanks to a five-run rally in the sixth inning that gave them a 6-2 lead. Ryan Pepiot, who started for the Rays, got through six innings after allowing solo home runs in each of the first two innings. He kept it close, and then the bats took over. His effort was greatly appreciated.

"Honestly, the only reason we were able to get to that part was because of the performance that Pep put up,'' Rays outfielder Josh Lowe said. "We did our job there picking him up when there when things were quiet, and once we get going with this offense, there isn't much that can stop us.''

The A's were up 2-0 early after Brent Rocker and Max Schuemann homers, but in the bottom of the second, Rays left fielder Jake Mangum drove a ball deep to center field that Denzel Clarke couldn't quite get to. He crashed into the wall, and the ball dribbled away. Mangum never stopped running and scored on an inside-the-park home, the first in two years. (Highlight link below)

They made their move in the sixth. Pepiot had three strikeouts in the top of the inning — and nine for the game — and was done after 100 pitches. He hasn't gotten much run support this season, but he got it in the bottom of the inning.

Josh Lowe opened the inning with a solo homer to tie the game at 2-2, and then Brandon Lowe doubled, stretching his hitting streak to a league-leading 18 games. Yandy Diaz then followed with a 415-foot shot over the wall in left-center to put the Rays up 4-2. Junior Caminero doubled, and then Chandler Simpson and Matt Thaiss added two-out singles to give them a four-run lead.

"The offense kind of erupted there,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "The add-on runs there turned out to be extremely crucial and they came with two outs. I'm encouraged by everyone sort of playing a role there. We've seen what this offense can look like for quite some time now, so I was happy to see it break out there.''

As it turned out, they needed every bit of it. Kevin Kelly pitched a perfect seventh, and Eric Orze struck out all three batters in the eighth. Orze came back out for the ninth with a four-run lead, but Max Mancy hit his first pitch over the left-field wall. Catcher Austin Wynns, who drove in the game-winner Tuesday night with a sacrifice fly, doubled, so Cash went to the bullpen.

Edwin Uceta came in, but he allowed four singles to the first five batters he faced. The last hit, by Tyler Soderstrom, was a dribbler to first that no one could get to, and it drove in a run to make it 6-5 with runners still on second and third.

But then Uceta struck out their two best hitters — Rooker and Nick Kurtz — to end the threat. It wasn't pretty, but he got it done. He got Kurtz on a 3-2 changeup, a pitch far out of the strike zone that Kurtz swung at anyway. it easily could have been a walk — and a tie game.

"They had big at-bats, and they pieced together some hits,'' Cash said. "We've got to be able to convert an out on that ground ball to first somehow, but Uceta has been in that role enough and in those environments that he can take a deep breath and make good pitches.''

The Rays are now 48-39, tied for second with Toronto in the American League East, and one game behind the New York Yankees. The Jays and Yanks play Wednesday night in New York. Tampa Bay is off on Thursday, and then embarks on a 10-game road trip to end the first half. They got to Minnesota, Detroit and Boston before the All-Star break.

Related Rays stories