Rays inch closer to division crown with 3rd walk-off of final homestand

ST. PETERSBURG -- Richie Palacios didn’t hit the ball particularly hard. He didn’t hit it terribly far, either. So as his 65.7 mph popup fell toward the Tropicana Field turf in shallow right field, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa running out for it from second base and Wilyer Abreu coming in, he was focused on only one thing.

“Just praying it drops. That's all you're doing,” Palacios said. “You're just praying it drops, and it did.”

The ball bounced off the turf, Junior Caminero trotted home to score the winning run, and Palacios hopped across the infield, looking up as he pointed two fingers to the sky. Palacios’ walk-off single sent the Rays to a 2-1 victory over the Red Sox on Saturday, their third walk-off win of their final regular-season homestand at the Trop.

“We're just relentless. No matter what's going on in the game, we always feel like we have a chance to win,” Palacios said after his second career walk-off hit. “Three walk-offs is amazing, and we're just going to continue to do what we do.”

The Rays’ seventh win in their last eight games brought them one step closer to clinching their first American League East title since 2021. The victory increased their lead in the division race to five games, after the Yankees lost in Arizona on Saturday night, with eight left to play.

The Rays know that plenty of high-stakes, high-pressure games are in their immediate future, whether they take place at Yankee Stadium next week or wherever their postseason road may lead. But they’re getting plenty of practice at finding ways to win those games before they get there.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rays haven’t had three walk-off wins in a single homestand since Sept. 20-25, 2019. This one before a crowd of 27,402 was their AL-leading 39th come-from-behind win of the year, and it came against a club they could face in their first playoff series.

“It’s very encouraging. It's a good feeling,” manager Kevin Cash said. “You want to get as many reps at that as possible, because we know the games that we're going to continue playing this year are going to be against good teams and in tight ballgames.”

It was appropriate for Palacios to finish this one. Tampa Bay’s spirited second baseman has been excellent this month, slashing .297/.395/.730 with five homers and 14 RBIs, and he’s shown a knack for getting big hits all season.

Having driven in 53 runs this season, Palacios ranks fourth on the Rays behind only Caminero (97), Jonathan Aranda (92) and Yandy Díaz (81), Tampa Bay’s “Big Three.” Remarkably, 28 of Palacios’ RBIs have come with two outs -- and nobody on the team has delivered more runs than Palacios (24) with two outs and runners in scoring position.

That was the situation he stepped into on Saturday. There were two outs in the ninth inning, the game was tied, and the Rays had Caminero on third and Chandler Simpson on second after a pair of singles off Garrett Whitlock and a passed ball.

Palacios fell behind in the count, 1-2, then swung at a high sinker and dropped it in the perfect spot, ending the Rays’ 0-for-33 skid with runners in scoring position against the Red Sox.

“I don't put extra pressure on it,” he said. “I just have the same approach that I usually do, and then sometimes it's not going to work out -- and today it did.”

Of course, it took a lot of contributions from across the roster to put Palacios in position to be the hero.

Freddy Peralta delivered another excellent start, featuring more zip on his fastball (which averaged 96.4 mph, up 2.2 mph from his season-long mark) and holding the Red Sox to one run in 5 2/3 innings. Having rediscovered his front-of-the-rotation form and confidence with Tampa Bay, the veteran right-hander has put together a 0.94 ERA and 0.70 WHIP in five starts since Aug. 26.

Jonathan Aranda swatted a game-tying homer off Brayan Bello in the fourth. Relievers Kevin Kelly, Cam Booser, Cole Sulser and Bryan Baker kept it that way. And Tampa Bay’s defense made the walk-off rally possible.

Catcher Nick Fortes made a perfect throw to Caminero to catch Caleb Durbin stealing third in the ninth, then Caminero -- who ended the Rays’ last two walk-off wins with a pair of homers -- made a slick play of his own to retire Kiner-Falefa after a two-out triple by Jarren Duran.

“All these games matter a ton, and we've done a really good job of just staying true to ourselves and meeting the moment,” Caminero said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “We've done a really good job, and hopefully we close things out here soon.”