Rays Rally Late, Beat Astros 3-2 on Taylor Walls' Walk-Off Sacrifice Fly

TAMPA, Fla. — There's a script to follow to beat Tampa Bay this season, and there is no ad-libbing allowed. You start a left-handed pitcher against the Rays, and your changes of winning are fairly good.

The Houston Astros did that Tuesday night, bringing up lefty Brandon Walter — who hasn't been in the big leagues since 2023 — to start the game. All he did was throw five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits, and it looked like one of those nights again.

But the Rays rallied late, scoring twice in the eighth inning on a Jonathan Aranda single, and then winning the game in the ninth on a Taylor Walls sacrifice fly, taking the second game of the series 3-2.

From a night of frustration to jubilation.

"I think it's obvious we've been having issues with lefties, and I think the other teams in the league are adjusting to that,'' said Aranda, who's big two-out single in the eighth came off lefty reliever Steven Okert. "We're going to continue to see more lefty pitchers, so we have to continue adjusting as well.

"The opportunity presented it for me there to help the team, and I was able to do it. Thank God I was able to come through.''

The Rays have been shut out six times this season, all in games started by left-handed pitchers. They've lost three of their last four games, and have been frustrated at the plate a lot throughout the skid. It was no different Tuesday, where they never had more than one base runner against Walter through the first five innings.

Zack Littell started for the Rays, and he battled. He only lasted five innings, and had a lot of long counts to several hitters. He threw 103 pitches without walking anyone, but gave up back-to-back doubles to Houston catcher Victor Caratini and center fielder Jake Meyers for a run in the second inning, and a solo home run to former Ray Isaac Paredes in the third.

But he battled through every inning, and kept it a 2-0 game. That was huge.

"He grinded it, and competed really, really well,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "He was not as sharp as he had been the last couple of starts, but to give up two runs through five innings and a 100-something pitches was really impressive.''

To have a chance, the Rays were going to need to cover four innings out of the bullpen — and they did exactly that. Edwin Uceta pitched a perfect sixth, and Garrett Cleavinger was sharp in the seventh, issuing only a two-out walk to Paredes. Pete Fairbanks pitched the eighth, giving up just a two-out single.

It was all good.

And in the bottom of the eighth, Okert hit leadoff hitter Curtis Mead with a pitch, and then Yandy Diaz laced a single to right field. Kameron Misner came in to pinch-run for Diaz. Jose Caballero grounded into a fielder's choice, with Mead out at third.

Misner got a good bead on Okert's moves, and the Rays pulled off a double steal. "He's a great base runner, and I was just playing off of him,'' Caballero said. "The second he took off, I did, too.''

Suddenly, Aranda had the tying run at second base, and he ripped a single into right field. Misner scored easily and the speedy Caballaro was right behind him. The threat ended there, though, when Junior Caminero grounded into a double play.

Manuel Rodriguez pitched the ninth for the Rays, and worked around a leadoff single by Cam Smith. In the bottom of the inning, Christopher Morel got a leadoff walk, and the Brandon Lowe doubled to left, pushing Morel to third. Josh Lowe popped up to second, bringing up Walls, who seems to find a lot of these game-on-the-line situations lately.

He had just failed in a ninth-inning situation on Monday night and was 0-for-3 with a strikeout in Tuesday's game. But he was able to get a 2-2 pitch deep enough into left field for Morel to score ahead of Chas McCormick's throw.

"There were a lot of big at-bats, and those guys are wearing it on their sleeves right now,'' Cash said. "We hung in there. Wallsy fell behind, but he came through, getting it out there enough for Mo to tag.

"Aranda really hung in there really well, too. They are really left-handed in their bullpen and they can match up with our lefties. I was just impressed that Aranda was able to hang in there after falling behind in the count.''

The Rays are now 22-26 on the season with the walk-off win — their fourth of the season, third-best in baseball — and won at home against Houston for the first time since Aug. 24, 2023. They had lost six in a row to the Astros.

This was just their fourth win at Steinbrenner Field in their last 17 home games dating back to April 15. This was ''a must win,'' Littell said, and he was impressed that everyone just kept grinding all the way to the end.

They knew the Astros needed to get 27 outs. They only got 26, and the Rays had a win thanks to a lot of clutch performances.

"They're pros,'' Cash said. "This bullpen, when they're right and rolling, they are totally equipped to throw a lot of shutdown innings and tonight we needed every single one of them.

"The hitters, they've handled things well (in dealing with their failures). They answer questions about it every day and the work ethic and attention to detail has not wavered one bit.''

Related stories on Rays-Astros