Rays' 5-run 7th sinks Rangers in slugfest

May 30th, 2017

ARLINGTON -- 's three-run home run in the top of the seventh was the big blow for the Rays as they had to come back twice before coming away with a 10-8 victory over the Rangers on Monday night. The Rays have won nine of their last 13.
The Rays trailed, 4-1, after two innings and 7-5 after six before scoring five runs in the seventh inning against the Rangers' bullpen. ' two-run double off reliever Tony Barnette tied the game and, after walked, Beckham put the Rays ahead with his eighth home run of the season.
"That's an impressive win," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Really impressive win. Two impressive wins, back-to-back days. Asked a lot of the guys, can't express how they came through. But to come from behind in that game when it's so easy to kind of not collapse, but realizing what we went through yesterday [in their 15-inning win at Minnesota] and then to find a way to keep plugging and get runs across. Just really impressed by that group in the clubhouse right now."

The Rangers have been outscored, 43-21, in the seventh inning this season.
"Yeah, again the seventh inning has been something that we'd like to forget all year long," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "We've got to find a way to get through that seventh inning and record some outs, and continue to shut down the innings and get us in a situation where we have a lead so we can get it to the two guys at the backend that have been successful."
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Joey Gallo had a double and his 16th home run for the Rangers in his first start at first base, as third baseman returned from the disabled list and made his season debut. The loss snapped the Rangers' eight-game home winning streak and they have lost six of their last seven games overall.

Rangers starter allowed five runs in five innings. He had a 5-3 lead going into fifth before giving up a two-run home run to . Rays right fielder Steven Souza Jr. finished 4-for-5 and scored four runs.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Beltre returns with base hit: Beltre finally stepped up to the plate for the first time this season with nobody out and standing at second base. Beltre lifted a single into right field, moving Mazara to third. He scored on 's sacrifice fly to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. The hit was No. 2,943 of his career for Beltre, tying him with Frank Robinson for 34th all-time.

Beckham saves two: Beckham made a terrific diving stop to save two runs in the fourth. The Rangers, with a 5-3 lead, had runners at second and third with one out and the Rays had the infield in. smashed a grounder that had an exit velocity of 99 mph and Beckham dove to his right to make the stop. He then threw home to get . Reliever then struck out Mazara to end the threat. More >

Seventh-inning move favor Rays: The Rays, trailing 7-5, had runners at second and third in the seventh when left-hander struck out for the second out. That brought up right-handed hitting Rickie Weeks, and Banister brought in the right-handed Barnette. But Cash countered with left-handed-hitting pinch-hitter Rasmus -- 2-for-3 in his career off Barnette -- and he doubled to right-center to tie the score.
"All of our matchups tell us that Barnette versus Rasmus is a better matchup in that situation, we knew that we were going to get Rasmus in that situation," Banister said. "Still felt good about the matchup. We tried to make a pitch, an unexecuted pitch, looked like a breaking ball out over the plate that Rasmus ambushed into the gap for a double."

QUOTABLE
"All I know is, I let the team down. We put ourselves in position to win and I let it get away and snowball from there." -- Barnette on the decisive seventh inning
"I like the way our offense is playing. The confidence is there, even when we're down in games. It's nice to see the belief in the dugout, even if you're down a couple late, you feel like you can get something going." -- Longoria on the Rays' offense

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Gallo's second-inning home run had an exit velocity of 116.3 mph. That's the seventh-hardest hit home run recorded by Statcast™ over the past three seasons. Gallo's home run on April 21 against the Royals had an exit velocity of 116.1 mph and is No. 8 on the list. Gallo's fourth-inning double had an exit velocity of 114 mph.

WHAT'S NEXT
Rays: (5-1, 3.24) gets the nod against the Rangers in an 8:05 p.m. ET contest Tuesday at Globe Life Park. Andriese is 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA in three career appearances (all starts) against the Rangers.
Rangers: Right-hander pitches against the Rays at 7:05 p.m. (CT) Tuesday. Martinez is 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA in his last three starts. Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.