Walk This Way: Rays Snap Losing Streak With Game-Winning Walk Over Brewers

TAMPA, Fla. — It's been a rough week for the Tampa Bay Rays, and wins have been hard to come by. So even though they won Friday night by unconventional means, they didn't care one bit. The 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers was all that mattered.

The Rays, who had lost seven straight home games before Friday, won it in the eighth inning when light-hitting shortstop Taylor Walls drew a walk with the bases loaded to put the Rays ahead for good. Tampa Bay had loaded the bases with inning-opening singles by Christopher Morel and Junior Caminero, and then Danny Jansen drew a one-out walk to fill the bases. Walls was patient against Milwaukee reliever Jared Koenig, and drew the seven-pitch walk that made the difference, their first win since Sunday.

Teams don't win games on a walk very often, so as odd as it was, it wasn't even their strangest run. That came in the sixth inning with the scored tied 2-2. Morel had opened the inning with a walk and Caminero singled, sending Morel to third. With. two outs, Caminero tried to steal second, but the Brewers had sniffed it out.

Brewers catcher William Contreras threw to second, when Caminero had stopped running. Morel had drifted too far off of third so shortstop Joey Ortiz quickly threw to third baseman Caleb Durbin. Morel dove back into third, but Durbin was in the way. Third base umpire James Hoye said Durbin had blocked the bag, and ruled it interference. By rule, Morel was awarded home, and the Rays led 3-2.

As you would expect, Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy went nuts, completely disagreeing with the obstruction call. He argued hard, and got tossed.

The Rays' other two runs were off-the-charts, too. In the third inning and trailing 1-0, Taylor Walls opened the frame with a single. Jose Caballero then singled to center, but the ball rolled right through Milwaukee center fielder Jackson Chourio. It was the first error of his career over a season and a half.

The Rays made it 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth when Brandon Lowe hit a home run. It was his first since April 26 and it was just his third hit in 23 at-bats in May. He had gone 17 home games without a homer, the second-longest streak of his career.

All the comebacks were nice. They had a chance thanks in part to starter Zach Littell, who pitched six solid innings, allowing just two runs — one earned — on six hits. Mason Montgomery pitched a perfect seventh.

Cole Sulser, who had just been recalled from Triple-A Durham, came in to pitch the top of the eighth with a 3-2 lead. But he walked Brewers second baseman Brice Turang to start the inning, and he then scored from second on a two-out single by Rhys Hoskins.

Sulser got the rare ''blown save'' and a ''win'' in the same game when the Rays won it in the bottom of the inning.

The Rays were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, so scoring on an error, a home run, and obstruction call and a walk turned out to be a good thing. It was the first time the Rays had won a game despite going 0-for-11 or worse since they beat the Boston Red Sox in 2012 despite going 0-for-12 from the plate.

The Rays are now 10-16 in their temporary home, and it was just their second win at Steinbrenner Field in 13 tries after getting swept by Kansas City and Philadelphia. Granted, they've had a front-loaded home schedule, but the Rays' 16 home losses are the most in the major leagues. (Colorado is next with 15.)

The two teams meet again on Saturday, with first pitch set for 4:10 p.m. ET. Taj Bradley (3.2, 4.43 ERA) will get the start for the Rays. Milwaukee will go with Tobias Myers (1-0, 3.65 ERA). Myers, who will be making his fourth start of the season, got his first win of the year in his last start, when he allowed just one run in 5 1/3 innings in a 5-1 win over the Houston Astros.