Brett Phillips hit a two-run homer off Frankie Montas in the sixth inning to erase a 2-1 deficit and help give the Tampa Bay Rays a 4-3 win over the Oakland Athletics Tuesday at Tropicana Field, evening up the four-game series after dropping Monday’s opener.
Phillips’ home run came following a two-out base morehit by Francisco Mejia extended the inning after Yoshi Tsutsugo grounded into a double play. he got a 96 MPH fastball on a 2-2 count and knocked it into the seats in the left-centerfield deck for his first home run of 2021.
The Rays initially took the lead in the bottom of the first inning, as Kevin Kiermaier tripled to start the game, then scored two batters later when Vimael Manchin couldn’t handle a Randy Arozarena ground ball cleanly.
Manchin would get the game even in the next inning, following three consecutive singles by Mitch Moreland, Sean Murphy, and Stephen Piscotty with a groundout that would bring Moreland in to make it a 1-1 game.
Wacha would leave after just five innings of work and 69 pitches, and left-hander Jeffrey Springs would allow Oakland to take the lead on a sacrifice fly by Moreland.
After taking the lead in the sixth, the Rays added an insurance run in the seventh, as Arozarena doubled off reliever J.B. Wendelken and eventually scored on a base hit by Joey Wendle.
Oakland cut the lead back to one run when Murphy homered off Diego Castillo leading off the top of the ninth, but Castillo retired the next three batters in order to earn the save.
Tampa Bay can get back over .500 with a win in Wednesday’s third game of the series. Tyler Glasnow (2-1, 2.05 ERA) gets the start against Cole Irvin (2-2, 3.86 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:10.
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.
