CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Rays rallied and continued to roll.
Using a two-run ninth inning rally off James Karinchak and Austin Meadows’ RBI single in the 10th off Bryan Shaw, Tampa Bay rallied from a pair of three-run deficits to beat the Indians 5-4 Thursday night at Progressive Field.
“Unfortunately, failure is a part of the game,” Karinchak said. “You know that coming in. But I’m going to keep trusting the process, keep sticking to myself and keep working on it every day and believing in myself.
“Unfortunately there’s bumps in the road, but you keep on board.”
It was the Rays’ eighth win in their last 11 games and came hours after news broke that Tampa Bay acquired Nelson Cruz from the Minnesota Twins to bolster their lineup.
Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz sparked the rally in the ninth with a solo homer to lead off the inning before Brandon Lowe doubled off the wall in left center to tie the game at 4 and force extras.
“I went curveball to Yandi and he made a god swing,” Karinchak said.
The late inning implosion by the bullpen wasted a quality outing from Indians starter Cal Quantrill. He was outstanding in his six innings of work that saw him allow one run on four hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts but didn;t get to earn his third victory of the season for the Indians.
“He’s getting us to a point in the game where we have a good chance to win,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “That’s a really good feeling.”
Indians DH Franmil Reyes homered for the 17th time this season, shooting a line drive over the wall to the bleachers in left field for a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The two-out, three-run blast came right after Jose Ramirez was intentionally walked in front of him.
“One of the things we say is ‘If they want to pitch around Jose, make sure they pay for it,’” Francona said. “Franmil put a really good swing on that.”
The Rays answered with their first run of the evening in the top of the fourth.
Diaz got a triple by Daniel Johnson in right field, who tried to make a sliding catch and missed, and was brought home on a sac fly to left field by Kevin Kiermaier to pull Tampa Bay within 3-1.
Cleveland answered right back in the bottom of the inning thanks to Austin Hedges’ sac fly to right that scored Harold Ramirez, who led off with a single and stole second to push the lead to 4-1.
Johnson also misplayed a deep fly to the wall off the bat of Francisco Mejia in the seventh inning that also became a triple and cost a run.
Mejia scored on a groundout to cut the Indians’ advantage to 4-2.
Phil Maton and Emmanuel Clase pitched scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth respectively before Karinchak blew his third save of the season in the ninth.
Notes: The Indians will go with a four-man rotation over the next week. Off days Monday and Thursday allowed the team to send Eli Morgan back to Triple-A Columbus where he will make his next start before returning. The team recalled left-hander Sam Hentges.
Francona’s friendship with Rays manager Kevin Cash is well known, along with the pranks they tend to pull on each other but Francona indicated before the game that he plans to lay off the hijinks this weekend as to not “poke the bear” seeing as the Rays “are good.”
Outfielder Bradley Zimmer was scratched from Thursday’s lineup after not feeling well when he got to the ballpark. He will be tested for COVID but Francona doesn't believe he has the virus. “I think it’s the same kind of stuff we’re all fighting,” Francona said. Oscar Mercado replaced him in center and was put at the bottom of the lineup.
