Well, when it was 1-0 going into the eighth inning, you could almost certainly see where this one was headed. It just happened to take a couple of extra innings to finally end the way we all knew it would… With another blown lead, blown save, and eventual walk-off for the New York Yankees.
The Rays entered the day at .500 and ended the night below .500 for the first time since May 25th. The precipitous fall from just a half game back of the first place Yankees to a now staggering 9.5 games back in just over a month has been an agonizing watch. Such was the case again on Wednesday night.
The Rays jumped out to an early lead 1-0 lead in the third inning thanks to a Brandon Lowe RBI-double. Zach Littell did his part in what we would later learn was his final start in a Rays uniform. He tossed five scoreless, allowing just two hits. He walked and struck out four.
Cleavinger and and Englert also tossed scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh innings, maintaining the 1-0 lead into the eighth inning.
But, as has been the case all season, the dam finally broke and with it came a blown lead from the Rays pen. Mid-season acquisition, Brian Baker, took the mound in the eighth and quickly surrendered a pair of runs, along with the lead.
Trailing 2-1 in the ninth, Josh Lowe took matters into his own hands and launched a go-ahead two-run bomb down the right field line. The blast gave the Rays a 3-2 lead.
Fairbanks came on in the bottom half of the inning and promptly blew the save, surrendering a game-tying solo shot to Anthony Volpe. The Yankees were not able to push across the winning run in the ninth, so Manfred-Ball would decide this one.
The Rays managed to load the bases in the 10th and with one out Aranda flicked a fly ball to left that almost got out for a go-ahead grand slam. Instead, it was a long sacrifice-fly that gave the Rays a 4-3 lead.
That wouldn’t be enough as Edwin Uceta surrendered a one-out game tying triple to Cody Bellinger. But, with a man on third and less than two outs, Uceta was able to escape the jam, sending this one to the 11th.
The Rays were unable to score and on came Kevin Kelly to try get us to the 12th. Almost as quickly as his name was announced over the loudspeaker, the game was over. After putting Dominguez on to set up the double play, Kelly quickly erased that threat and balked, moving Jazz to third and Dominguez to second. Ryan McMahon did the rest, sending a fly ball to deep center, scoring Chisholm Jr. and giving the Yankees a 5-4 win.
In total, the Rays bullpen was unable to hold three separate one run leads from the eight inning on.
Same result, different night. The aforementioned fall in the standings has directly coincided with an atrocious stretch out of the bullpen and there is no escaping that. Seemingly no lead is safe and a one run deficit might as well be a four run deficit. Tied ballgames aren’t tied, at least for long anyways. When the Rays most need a win, they have faltered time and time again.
