If you missed the five and a half hour baseball game tonight – we’ll try to recap it the best way we can. Might wanna sit down.
Despite their walk-off loss in last night’s opener in Miami, the Rays are 21-10 against teams under .500 on the year. Tuesday night would get them right back on track. LHP Ryan Yarbrough would make his fifth start and was already among the rookie leaders in wins (7) with most of his appearances out of the bullpen in relief of an “opener.”
Where “The Buffalo” roams
Wilson Ramos would crush his 12th home run of the season to straight away center following a one-out, hit by pitch putting Matt Duffy aboard. Ramos currently leads the All Star ballot for AL catchers with voting ending on Thursday night.
That helped.
Two more for the road
Back-to-back doubles by Daniel Robertson and Adeiny Hechavarria lead off the second for the Rays and added another run. Mallex Smith would follow driving home Hechavarria with a single to left. The Rays would jump out to an early 4-0 on the Marlins’ rookie righty.
But Trevor Richards would help his own cause in the home half of the inning.
The pitcher hits
After Yarbrough intentionally walked Lewis Brinson with two outs to load the bases for the pitcher, Richards would single home two and cut the Rays lead in half. It was his second career hit and first two runs batted in.
Wasted opportunities
With back-to-back singles by Hechavarria and Mallex, Kevin Cash chose to pinch-hit for Yarbrough with C.J. Cron. No outs, looking to add on.
Man plans, and the baseball god’s laugh.
Cron strikes out and Kiermaier followed with an unfortunate double play hit right to second with Mallex running. First and third, no outs, no runs for the Rays in the fourth.
Fish come back off Pruitt
After an RBI single by Brian Anderson and a sac fly by J.T. Realmuto tied the game off Austin Pruitt, Miguel Rojas hit a fly ball to right center. Kiermaier called off Field, made the catch, and gunned down Anderson at the plate to keep it tied.
Don’t. Run. On. The Outlaw.
Wood-n’t you know it…
Rookie RHP Hunter Wood came in and settled things down with three shutout innings of relief. The Rays bats squandered a lead-off single by Duffy in the seventh giving them seven left on base to that point on 12 hits. Wood gave up just a walk in the eighth.
Flirting with disaster
Chaz Roe had the winning run on third for the Marlins in the ninth. Realmuto at the plate. After a bit of a battle with the Marlins catcher, Roe got the swing and miss on a full count to end the threat. Back-to-back extra innings in Miami? Sure, why not!
Bizarro world in Miami.
It took until the 16th inning, folks.
The 16th inning. Two outs. Two men aboard. Bauers does what he does and doubles into the RF corner to drive in two runs.
Vidal Nuno, who’s a relief pitcher by the way and already has a single on the evening, singled home another run to make it a 7-4 Rays lead. Might have been a double had he not pulled up before first with a pulled hamstring. So Nathan Eovaldi, a starting pitcher, came in to pinch-run for a relief pitcher.
Robertson would add a two-run double for good measure and the Rays would take a 9-4 lead to the home half of the 16th.
Sucre on to close it out
In a game that had everything – a catcher was called on to pitch the 16th inning with a five-run lead.
Jesus Sucre loaded the bases on three singles. Then gave up a sac fly to deep left center to allow the Marlins to pull it a run closer, 9-5.
Finally, Jose Alvarado would come in and end this one.
Mercifully.
NOTES:
- Kevin Cash said Vidal Nuno is very likely heading to the DL.
- RHP Matt Andriese and RHP Diego Castillo were the only two Rays players not used in tonight’s 16-inning game.
- Tonight’s game goes down as the longest road game in franchise history and second longest overall.
