ST. PETERSBURG -- Staring down the barrel of a four-game sweep against the surging Orioles, Rays manager Kevin Cash left little doubt about the urgency of Monday night’s series finale.
“We need to find a way to win a game,” Cash said Monday afternoon. “The Orioles have played very well against us, and [I] feel like we need to get back to doing our thing.”
A few hours later, the Rays did just that in a 7-6 win over the Orioles at Tropicana Field capped by closer Bryan Baker's first career five-out save. And the way they played said just as much about the importance of this game as the way they spoke about it afterward.
“You never want to get swept, especially for four games at home, in-division,” Baker said. “They're just playing really good baseball right now, so to be able to scrap and claw back and come out of here with a win tonight was really big for us.”
The victory kept the Rays from suffering their second four-game sweep within the past month, improved their record to 75-49 and extended their lead over the Yankees for the top spot in the American League to six games.
Nearly everyone played a part in the back-and-forth affair, as the Rays used three players off the bench and five relievers behind returning starter Shane McClanahan. After using some of their top high-leverage arms when Baltimore was leading, they asked Baker to get more than three outs and pitch across multiple innings for the first time all season.
Yes, even with the Orioles having already won the series, this one mattered.
“The guys stayed at it, didn't get frustrated,” Cash said. “I think that's probably a byproduct of knowing that we're a good team and we've kind of withstood some stuff in the past, and they just stayed at it.”
The Orioles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning and regained a 3-1 advantage in the fourth before the Rays responded with three runs on homers by Ryan Vilade and Jorge Mateo. The Orioles answered with their own pair of homers in the fifth against former Baltimore teammate Tyler Wells.
But the Rays did not roll over.
In the sixth, Cash turned to top setup man Kevin Kelly, who gave up a pair of singles, but recorded a scoreless inning. Lefty Cam Booser struck out three in the seventh, keeping Tampa Bay’s deficit at two runs. Then came the comeback.
Pinch-hitter Taylor Walls reached on a single that deflected off first baseman Coby Mayo’s glove, then Yennier Cano hit Yandy Díaz with a pitch. Up came Jonathan Aranda, who lined an RBI single to left field. Junior Caminero loaded the bases with a swinging-bunt single, at which point the Orioles lifted the right-hander in favor of lefty Josh Walker.
Cash responded by sending pinch-hitter Jonny DeLuca to the plate instead of hot-hitting trade acquisition Liam Hicks, and DeLuca came through. After taking two pitches and fouling off three others, he chopped a changeup over the infield and into left for a go-ahead, two-run single.
“Had kind of a tough weekend … so just trying to put the ball in play in a situation like that,” said DeLuca, who had been hitless in his first 10 at-bats of the series. “Ended up not being so pretty, but working out.”
Booser began the eighth, but the Orioles again threatened by getting runners to first and third with one out. Then Cash turned to Baker, the All-Star closer who has now converted a franchise-record 24 consecutive save opportunities, to protect a one-run lead.
“It's just special every single time. I feel like he’s got it on lock,” DeLuca said. “It's really hard to do, and he makes it look really easy.”
First, Baker struck out Alonso and induced an inning-ending grounder from Jackson Holliday in the eighth. He had a brief conversation in the dugout with pitching coach Kyle Snyder, confirming he was ready to handle the ninth.
“I figured I knew his answer was going to be that he was staying in the game,” Cash said, “but appreciate the heck out of it.”
Fortunately, Baker said, the opportunity came at a good time. He had only pitched once since Aug. 8, so he was fresh and felt strong physically. He was efficient with his pitches. And as usual, he was amped up.
Baker returned to the mound and worked around a two-out single in the ninth, securing arguably the biggest of his Major League-leading 35 saves then flexing his arms and shouting in a well-earned celebration.
“That was a different kind of thrill. We really wanted to win that game,” Baker said. “Didn't want to leave that series with the sweep, so pretty excited about that one.”