Francisco Mejia’s three-run homer off Zack Wheeler in the ninth inning broke a 4-4 tie and led the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, capping a two-game sweep Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Wheeler was able to keep the Phillies in the game after the Rays were able to get out to leads of 3-1 in the fifth and 4-3 in the eighth, allowing his hitters to come back and tie the game up each time. But Phillies manager Joe Girardi allowed Wheeler to begin the ninth inning, and Yandy Diaz started the inning with a blast to right that just missed being a home run, with Bryce Harper holding the Rays first baseman to a single. Kevin Kiermaier then doubled just over the third base bag, allowing Diaz to move to third base. Mejia fell behind 0-2 to Wheeler before getting a fastball he could pull and launching it into the second deck in right for his sixth home run of the season.
The home run gives Mejia 31 RBI on the season, 18 of which have come in the seventh inning or later.
Philadelphia jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on Ryan Yarbrough, who loaded the bases on singles by Andrew McCutchen and Ronald Torreyes sandwiching a walk to Freddy Galvis. Luke Williams grounded into a double play that allowed McCutchen to score, but Wheeler could not add on to the lead, as his flare to left was caught by a diving Randy Arozarena.
The Rays were able to tie the game in the top of the fourth, as Wander Franco led off with a double, extending his rookie franchise record streak for reaching base safely to 26 consecutive games, and scored when Joey Wendle’s fly ball to left was muffed by McCutchen for a two-base error.
Arozarena’s groundout moved Wendle to third base, and after Brett Phillips struck out for the second out of the inning, Diaz’s base hit broke the tie.
Brandon Lowe extended the lead to 3-1 an inning later with a solo shot to right-center, his 30th of the season.
Yarbrough would be lifted from the game after giving up a base hit to Wheeler to start the home half of the fifth. Shawn Armstromg got Jean Segura to ground into a fielder’s choice and struck out J.T. Realmuto, but Harper followed with a massive home run to center that tied the game at three apiece.
The Rays regained the lead in the eighth, as Franco reached on an infield single, moving to third on a hit-and-run single by Wendle and scoring on a RBI groundout off the bat of Arozarena. But Collin McHugh, who had not allowed an earned run since May 24, saw his streak of 33 2/3 innings come to an end in the bottom of the eighth when Rhys Hoskins homer to tie the game back up.
Tampa Bay’s win improves their record to 79-48, and extends their lead in the American League East to 4 1/2 games over the idle New York Yankees.
The Rays will have Thursday off before beginning a weekend series at Camden Yards against the Baltimore Orioles.
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.
