ARLINGTON -- Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks takes a simple approach when he’s on the mound. After all, he has a fastball that can reach triple digits. His mindset didn’t change as he faced Mitch Garver, with the potential game-winning run standing at third base with two outs in the ninth on Monday night.
“I’m trying to blow his doors off,” Fairbanks said. “I’m trying to throw fastballs by people. And sometimes when you do that, you overthrow it.”
Fairbanks overthrew a 100 mph fastball at the wrong time, as his 1-1 pitch bounced to the backstop and allowed the Rangers to bring in the game-deciding run for a 3-2 walk-off victory at Globe Life Field. It marked the fourth time in franchise history, and the first since 2009, that Tampa Bay has lost on a walk-off wild pitch.
“An unfortunate way,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I mean, I don’t know. Losing is losing. I don't know. Maybe it feels a little bit better if they hit the ball and drive a guy in.”
Fairbanks found himself in trouble after allowing a leadoff double to Josh Jung, who was replaced by pinch-runner Josh H. Smith. Fairbanks struck out Adolis García, then got Nathaniel Lowe to ground out as Smith moved to third. Against Garver, Fairbanks yanked a fastball that catcher Christian Bethancourt had little chance to stop.
“It was yanked. It felt like it came out of my hand real hot, and unfortunately real not near the strike zone,” Fairbanks said. “Tough way to lose. Tough way to try and skirt the danger and put yourself in a spot to escape, and then try and do too much and have it end like that.”
Fairbanks’ wild pitch was one of two pitches that cost the Rays. The other wasn’t even a pitch Tampa Bay would really want back, either.
Starter Shane McClanahan returned to his ace form in his first game back from a 17-day stint on the injured list with mid-back tightness. The only blemish came in the sixth inning, when Rangers left fielder Ezequiel Duran belted a 1-2 fastball over the right-center-field fence for a two-run shot that tied the game at 2-2.
McClanahan threw the pitch exactly where he wanted -- elevated out of the zone -- and Duran simply got to it.
“It was a good pitch, I thought so,” McClanahan said. “Fastball elevated out of the zone, running away from him, not much you can do there but just acknowledge that it was a good piece of hitting and move on.”
The bigger storyline for the Rays was that McClanahan felt as good as he has all season. He faced the minimum through five shutout innings, erasing a leadoff single by Marcus Semien to start the game by inducing a double-play grounder from Corey Seager.
In the sixth, Robbie Grossman reached on an infield single before Duran went deep. McClanahan retired the next three batters, and he ended his night allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and six strikeouts over six innings.
McClanahan drew praise from Rangers manager Bruce Bochy.
“Wow, I mean, you look at all his weapons. The guy pumps 98 out there, and it's moving,” Bochy said. “He's got great secondary pitches, the slider, the curve and a tremendous changeup. We knew we had our hands full, and we just had to go out there and compete.”
This was the type of outing the Rays hoped to get out of McClanahan. Even though they ended up losing, they at least got a frontline starter back.
“Thrilled with Shane,” Cash said. “Thrilled with the efficiency. Thrilled with the stuff. I feel bad for him that the pitch Duran hit was a pretty good pitch. Tip your cap sometimes. Unfortunately, that basically cost him getting the chance to win a ballgame.”