Yarbrough cruises early, Rays rally late

Ryan Yarbrough came out strong against the Phillies on Saturday at Tropicana Field, and the bullpen helped the Rays hold on for a 5-3 win.

Through the first four innings, Yarbrough was precise and under control, allowing just one hit and one walk. After giving up a two-out single to Rhys Hoskins in the first inning, Yarbrough retired the next nine Philadelphia batters before walking J.T. Realmuto in the fourth.

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In the bottom of the first, the Rays were tasked with going against the strong arm of Zack Wheeler. After two early strikeouts by Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe, Yandy Díaz hit a two-out single to right field and Austin Meadows followed with a 104 mph shot to right-center field to give the Rays an early 2-0 lead. It was Meadows' 11th homer of the season, including his second in as many games.

“I think we know we can get hot at any time, whether we're down or up -- we know that it's going to be a battle till the end,” said Meadows. “I think for us, having that experience in the past of being able to come back in games or hanging right there with the team and know that it's gonna take one guy to deliver, whether it's early in the game or late. We continue to battle and we were able to do that today. So hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Through the first four innings, it was shaping up to be a duel on the mound until the finish. Wheeler allowed just four hits and three runs while racking up a career-high 14 strikeouts. However, Wheeler was not getting much run support from the Philadelphia offense.

Meadows' homer held up as the only offense until the top of the fifth, when the Phillies were able to pick up some much-needed hits off Yarbrough. After starting the inning with his eighth strikeout, Yarbrough allowed back-to-back batters to reach base before serving up a game-tying two-run double to Ronald Torreyes, bringing Yarbrough's outing to an abrupt end.

Yarbrough finished the game with a swing-and-miss percentage of 38% while allowing three hits and two walks to go with eight strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings. Yarbrough has a 4.26 ERA this season through 11 appearances.

The Rays rank eighth in the Majors and third in the AL with a 3.46 team ERA. Yarbrough pitched under control and set up the Tampa Bay bullpen for the victory, though he's still searching for his first win as a starter since 2019 after settling for a no-decision.

The team got the win, though, as Arozarena used his speed to manufacture what proved to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth. He reached on an infield single to start the frame, then went from first to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Meadows' infield single back to the mound.

“I'm always looking to try to take that extra base, so that's exactly what I did when I saw that open base," Arozarena said. "I just kept on going and found a way to make something happen for this team and take an extra base.”

“The key was getting Randy on base right there, and allowing for some things to go our way," manager Kevin Cash said. "A lot of things went our way, for sure, but you know our pitching was really good again and I thought Yarbs was awesome."

The two teams totaled 11 hits, eights runs and 31 strikeouts. Although the Rays have been the Majors' best team on the road this season, with a 19-7 record, Tampa Bay has struggled under the dome. However, over the past few weeks, the Rays have won seven of their last eight and have outscored their opponents, 41-14, at Tropicana Field.

“They've got just a tremendous mindset going right now,” said Cash. “The amount of wins that we've kind of racked up here of late certainly helps that, but they are feeding off each other and those big moments. The dugout just really erupts.”