PITTSBURGH -- It took everyone and just about everything the Rays had to pull off a wild, 8-7 win over the Pirates in 13 innings on Saturday night at PNC Park.
It took everyone in the literal sense.
Manager Kevin Cash emptied his entire bench and deployed everyone in his eight-man bullpen, including relievers who had been told they wouldn’t pitch Saturday. The game dragged on so long that starter/bulk-inning reliever Jesse Scholtens trotted out to the bullpen in case the game dragged on even longer.
It took everything in the emotional sense.
They had to stay patient through a frustrating start to the game, including a key missed opportunity in the second inning against ace Paul Skenes and a pair of two-out homers allowed by Opening Day starter Drew Rasmussen.
Then, they had to wait out a nearly 2 1/2-hour rain delay in the middle of the fourth inning, a pause that drenched the field and threw a wrench in everyone’s pitching plans.
Finally, they had to wait until they had played 13 innings, the longest game in the Majors this season. Center fielder Cedric Mullins delivered the big hit against right-hander Yohan Ramírez, a two-run homer into the right-field seats, and that was finally enough to separate the back-and-forth affair.
“Just everything encompassing this game, a lot going on,” Mullins said. “Yeah, definitely a weird one.”
With the rain returning and intensifying along the Allegheny River, right-hander Yoendrys Gómez recorded the final out six hours and 39 minutes after Skenes’ first pitch to Chandler Simpson, with a four-hour, 12-minute game on top of a two-hour, 27-minute delay.
And in the end, the Rays came out on top as they improved to 12-8, their best start since 2023 (17-3) and tied for the fifth-best 20-game start in franchise history.
“That was a heck of a ballgame to be a part of,” Cash said.
“It's just the type of win that can carry a team deep into the season,” said reliever Griffin Jax, who earned the win after pitching a scoreless 12th inning. “Everybody comes together. It took literally everybody in this game.”
And in a way, having to wait and work for it made Saturday’s victory even more satisfying.
“I don't think I've ever been in a game that brought out the emotion like that one,” said reliever Kevin Kelly, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 10th and allowed just one unearned run in the 11th.
There were plenty of key plays and major moments along the way, from big hits and gutsy pitching performances to a bizarre run of interference calls and a 13th-inning ejection of Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder. It all started in the fifth inning, though, when the Rays came to the plate down by four runs.
The delay forced Skenes out of the game, and the heart of Tampa Bay’s lineup capitalized against Pittsburgh’s bullpen as they strung together five straight two-out hits in the five-run rally.
“[The key was] probably Skenes coming out of the game, if we're going to be honest,” Cash said. “But I mean, you've got to take opportunities when you get them.”
After reliever Bryan Baker gave up the tying run in the eighth, leading to extra innings, they caught a huge break to briefly pull ahead in the 11th.
As baserunner Taylor Walls broke from first to second base, Ramírez’s errant pickoff throw to first skipped under Spencer Horwitz’s glove and rattled around in foul territory down the right-field line. Walls dashed around the bases and slid home safely to score the tiebreaking run.
The Pirates answered immediately, though, scoring on a pair of ground balls. Then it got to be gut-check time for the Rays.
Jax, who was not supposed to be available after a frustrating outing on Friday, bounced back in a big way by retiring Oneil Cruz, Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum in the 12th.
“A not-close team doesn't win this game,” Jax said. “It’s just another type of a thing that shows how close this team is and how good of a clubhouse vibe we have and energy and relationships. It's just one that took everybody.”
After Mullins put the Rays ahead by blasting a 2-0 fastball into the right-field seats, the Rays turned to Gómez. He was the last man standing in the bullpen, and they had no intention to use him after he pitched two innings on Friday night.
But there he was in the end, battling through traffic and one run scoring to record the final three outs and earn his second career save.
Then it was time to celebrate. And sleep.
“We're all tired together. It’s a long game together,” Walls said. “So, why not enjoy it? Why not try to win and get pumped up?”