Austin Meadows homered and drove in three, including the run in the eighth inning that broke a 3-3 tie and helped lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-3 win over the Phildelphia Phillies Saturday at Tropicana Field.
Meadows gave Tampa Bay an early 2-0 lead, following a Yandy Diaz single to right off Zack Wheeler with two out in the bottom of the first by crushing a Wheeler pitch into the seats in right for his 11th home run of the season.
Both Wheeler and Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough were getting plenty of swing and miss throughout their appearances Saturday. Yarbrough struck out seven through his first four innings of work, and allowed just one hit and one walk. But Philadelphia was able to get to the left-hander in the fifth, as he walked Odubel Herrera, then gave up a bunt single to Roman Quinn. Ronald Torreyes then doubled into the left field corner, allowing both runners to score to tie the game, even after Quinn fell rounding third and injured his left Achilles.
Tampa Bay used another two out rally against Wheeler in the sixth to break the tie. The Phillies starter walked both Diaz and Meadows in ront of Ji-Man Choi, who got a first-pitch fastball and laced it into center field for a RBI single and a 3-2 lead.
That lead would be short lived, as former Ray Matt Joyce, who replaced Quinn in the lineup, broke out of an 0 for 28 skid with a long home run off Jeffrey Springs in the top of the seventh.
Philadelphia finally went to its bullpen in the eighth, and the Rays were able to take advantage. Randy Arozarena reached on an infield single against Sam Coonrod and moved to third on a wild pitch. Brandon Lowe struck out and Diaz was intentionally walked before Joe Giaradi brought in another former Rays player in Jose Alvarado to face Meadows. Meadows chopped one of Alvarado’s pitches to the right side of the infield, reaching as Alvarado could not field the ball cleanly and Arozarena scored to break the tie.
Alvarado then hit Choi to load the bases and walked pinch-hitter Mike Brosseau to force in a run and set the score at 5-3.
J.P. Feyereisen worked a 1-2-3 ninth, including a strikeout of Torreyes, to finish off his second save.
Rays and Phillies combined to strike out 31 times Saturday, establishing a new Rays franchise record for combined strikeouts in a nine-inning game.
Tampa Bay has now won three straight and 14 of its last 15 games to stay atop the American League East.
The Rays can finish off a sweep of the two-game series with a victory in Sunday’s finale. Collin McHugh (0-1, 4.02 ERA) will open the game, taking on Zach Eflin (2-4, 3.84 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.
