C.J. Cron had a three-hit night including the game-tying double in the ninth but Miami rallied to walk it off in the tenth.
After one of their most successful home stands in franchise history, the Rays headed to Miami to face a struggling Marlins team.
Coming off a win over the Nationals in which he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, Nathan Eovaldi looked to keep it going against the fish.
Miami would take an early 1-0 lead in the second. After a Starlin Castro singled, Miguel Rojas would double him home with two outs.
The Rays had a chance to tie it in the top of the third. Willy Adames singled to lead off but was left aboard after strikeouts by Eovaldi and Kevin Kiermaier, then a ground out by Matt Duffy.
Hech ties it up.
After Daniel Robertson reached second on an error by Castro in the fourth, he came around to score from third on a sac fly by former Marlins shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria.
Eovaldi works around trouble.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Marlins had a huge chance to break the game open. With one out, they loaded the bases. If not for a slick, head’s up play by Hechavarria on a ground ball to throw the runner out at home, the tie would have been broken at the very least. Instead, Eovaldi would get Wei-Yin Chen to ground out and end the threat.
Tie-breaker
The Marlins have a pretty good catcher, themselves.
J.T. Realmuto destroyed a 2-1 pitch from Eovaldi and deposited his 11th home run into the left centerfield seats to break the 1-1 tie in the fifth inning.
Cron crush!
No, it wasn’t his career-high 17th home run. Instead it was a two-out, RBI single that scored Jake Bauers from first to tie the game. It was also Cron’s third hit of the evening capping off a 3-for-4 night at the plate. It also came against Marlins’ closer Kyle Barraclough who came into the game with a microscopic 0.99 ERA.
Extras. ???? pic.twitter.com/XaWroRllol
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 3, 2018
“The Opener” loses it in extras.
RHP Ryne Stanek has been the best “opener” the Rays have had since the title began mid-May. Pegged to open the Tuesday game in Miami, Stanek came on to pitch in the bottom of the tenth.
Lead off walks kill. Monday night, it snapped the Rays three-game winning streak.
Realmuto singled to center moving Brian Anderson all the way to third with no outs. Yadiel Rivera, pinch-hitting, rips a sharp ground ball to third. Duffy’s throw is way late and the winning run scores.
The road ahead
The loss kicks off a 13-game stretch heading into the All Star break against teams below the .500 mark. Two more in Miami before heading to New York to face the Mets, coming home for three against Detroit, and then rounding out with four in Minnesota.
The Rays are now 21-10 against teams below .500.
Rookies go head to head Tuesday
LHP Ryan Yarbrough (7-4, 3.76) will get his fifth start of the season for the Rays. The Marlins will counter with RHP Trevor Richards (2-5, 5.06) making his 11th start.
