Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash knows every game against the Seattle Mariners could come down to a single run.
Just like Tuesday night, when Jose Siri and Yandy Diaz hit late-inning home runs as the visiting Rays pulled out a 3-2 victory, evening the three-game series at one win apiece.
The decisive game is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
“It seems like we play a lot of games against this club that come down to the seventh, eighth and ninth inning,” Cash said. “So, every add-on run is big.”
With the Rays trailing 1-0, Siri hit a two-run homer with two outs in the seventh inning.
It continued a boom-or-bust theme for Siri, who is batting just .195 and already has surpassed his career high with 142 strikeouts.
He appeared headed for another whiff when he fell behind 0-2 in the count to reliever JT Chargois. He then fouled off three consecutive pitches before launching a slider 418 feet to straightaway center field.
Of Siri’s 17 homers this season, eight have either tied the score or put the Rays ahead.
“That was a huge hit in the moment,” Cash said.
Diaz led off the eighth with a 416-foot blast to left-center off Collin Snider, providing the Rays an insurance run they proved to need.
It was just the second win in the past six games for the Rays (66-66), who returned to the .500 mark for the big-league-leading 32nd time this season.
The Mariners lost for the second time in five games under manager Dan Wilson and missed a chance to gain a game on the division-leading Houston Astros in the American League West.
They also wasted another strong start by right-hander Logan Gilbert, who pitched six scoreless innings and set a season high with 10 strikeouts. Gilbert retired the first 11 Rays batters before allowing an infield single to Josh Lowe in the fourth.
“I feel like my stuff has been good, but good games or bad games depend on my mentality and recommitting to my plan at every at-bat,” Gilbert said.
Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs nearly matched Gilbert, tossing five shutout innings and fanning a season-high nine. Springs, who had Tommy John surgery last year, allowed just one out, a two-out single in the fourth by former teammate Randy Arozarena.
“Definitely felt a lot better than the last one in Oakland,” said Springs, referring to a game in which he was pulled after 3 1/3 innings. “Feel like I was able to locate my fastball early to both sides, and everything works off that for me.”
In the series finale, the Rays plan to use right-hander Drew Rasmussen (0-0, 2.70 ERA) as an opener against Mariners ace Luis Castillo (10-12, 3.66 ERA).
Rasmussen, a native of nearby Puyallup, Wash., will be making just his seventh appearance and third start of the season after multiple elbow procedures. He is 2-0 with an 0.71 ERA in three career appearances (two starts) against the Mariners.
“He’s about as self-motivated a player as I’ve ever been around and easily as hard a worker as I’ve been around,” Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder said. “I think to a lot of people in this clubhouse, it’s not too much of a surprise, but still, it needs to be recognized how impressive it’s been.”
Castillo took an 11-3 loss to the host Rays on June 25, a game in which he allowed four runs on five hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 3.33 ERA in four career starts against Tampa Bay.
–Field Level Media
