The Tampa Bay Rays lost their third consecutive game on their current road trip Thursday, as Kyle Seager‘s pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Seattle Mariners a 6-5 win over the Rays at T-Mobile Park.
After taking the loss in Chicago Wednesday, Pete Fairbanks found himself with a chance to close out a 5-4 game in the ninth Thursday, but walked Dylan Moore on four pitches then gave up a base hit to Jake Bauers. Luis Torrens failed to sacrifice the runners over, popping up his bunt attempt, but Shed Long Jr. picked up his teammate with a double to left that plated Moore and tied the game. Seager, pinch-hitting for Taylor Trammell, singled in Bauers to finish the game.
Seattle initially took the lead off Rays starter Rich Hill in the third, with Long doubling to start the inning, Trammell sacrificing him to third and J.P. Crawford bringing him in with a single.
Randy Arozarena gave Tampa Bay the lead in the next half inning, folowing Ji-Man Choi‘s leadoff single with his tenth home run of the year, landing in Diego Castillo‘s hat in the visiting bullpen.
Brandon Lowe extended Tampa Bay’s lead in the fifth with a base hit that scored Brett Phillips.
Torrens cut the lead back to a single run with a leadoff homer off Hill to start the fifth, but the Rays pushed the advantage back out to three runs thanks to a sacrifice fly by Joey Wendle and an RBI single by Kevin Kiermaier.
The Mariners again cut the Rays lead back to a single run thanks to a two-run homer by Ty France off Hill in the sixth.
Ryan Thompson got Tampa Bay out of the sixth with the one-run lead intact, with Jeffrey Springs putting up a zero in the seventh and Matt Wisler following suit in the eighth.
Michael Wacha (1-1, 4.54 ERA) will look to end the losing streak Friday, taking on Yusei Kikuchi (3-3, 3.67 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 10:10.
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.
