Shane McClanahan earned his first big league win, and Joey Wendle had four hits, including three doubles, as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from down 4-1 to defeat the New York Mets 12-5 Saturday at Tropicana Field.
McClanahan was staked to an early 1-0 lead, but saw the Mets back-to-back leadoff singles by Dominic Smith and James McCann set up Jose Peraza with two out, whose three run homer, his first of the year, gave New York the lead.
After striking out in his first five at-bats of the series, Tampa’s Pete Alonso finally made contact an inning later, as he crushed his sixth homer of the season to extend the Mets’ lead to 4-1.
After opener Drew Smith put up two scoreless frames and reliever Joey Lucchesi followed with a scoreless third, the Rays would roar back in the fourth scoring five times on Lucchesi and Sean Reid-Foley, with a two-run double by Willy Adames tying the game and a pinch-hit RBI double by Austin Meadows giving the Rays the lead for good. Randy Arozarena then singled in Meadows for an insurance run.
After going four innings in each of his first three regular season outings, McClanahan would end up pitching one out into the sixth to earn the victory.
The sixth run for Tampa Bay would be important, as Francisco Lindor cut the lead to 6-5 leading off the eighth with a solo shot off Jeffrey Springs. But the bottom of the eighth saw Tampa Bay score six more times thanks to two-run doubles by Yandy Diaz, Wendle, and Brett Phillips.
Cody Reed worked a scoreless ninth inning, including retiring former Rays farmhand Jake Hager, who was called up by the Mets Saturday morning and made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter with two outs in the inning and flew out to end the game.
Tampa Bay can finish off a series sweep Sunday afternoon, as left-hander Josh Fleming (2-3, 2.73 ERA) takes on Marcus Stroman (3-3, 2.01 ERA), First pitch is scheduled for 1:10.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
