The Tampa Bay Rays will be happy to see T-Mobile Park in the rear view mirror, after Shed Long Jr.’s grand slam off Diego Castillo in the bottom of the tenth finished off a four-game sweep in favor of the Seattle Mariners with a 6-2 deicsion and finishing Tampa Bay’s road trip with a 1-6 record.
Tampa Bay again failed to take advantage of the placed runner at second base in the top of the tenth, failing even to move pinch-runner Kevin Kiermaier up to third in the process. In the bottom of the inning, a fielder’s choice bunt by Dylan Moore allowed runner Taylor Trammell to move up to third with Moore reaching. Jake Bauers‘ ground ball would erase Trammell at the plate for the first out, and after Luis Torrens walked to load the bases, Jake Fraley‘s shallow fly ball led to the second out. Long then got a 1-1 slider and desposited it in the first row in right for his first home run of the year to end the game.
Rays starter Shane McClanahan had a strong outing, allowing just one run — a Torrens solo homer in the third — on three hits in six innings of work, striking out a career-best eight.
Tampa Bay trailed 1-0 until the sixth, when Joey Wendle reached on a base hit against Mariners starter Marco Gonzales to start the inning, moved to second on an errant pickoff throw, took third on a groundout by Brett Phillips and scored on a double by Manuel Margot.
Back-to-back doubles by Brandon Lowe and Mike Zunino an inning later off Gonzales would give the Rays a 2-1 lead.
But the Mariners would not go away, and Ty France tied the game up in the bottom of the inning, leading off against reliever Ryan Thompson with a solo homer, his sixth of the season.
The loss keeps Tampa Bay one half-game behind the Boston Red Sox for the lead in the American League East.
The Rays will have an off day on Monday before welcoming the Red Sox to Tropicana Field for the first time in 2021 beginning on Tuesday.
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.
