ARLINGTON – The Globe Life Field curse has been lifted.
The Rays made it interesting, seeing a five-run lead shrink to one, but they ultimately prevailed with a 7-6 victory over the Rangers on Friday night. It ended a 10-game losing streak at Globe Life Field, a facility the Rays had not won in since June 2, 2022.
How wild was it to get to the finish line? Just ask Rays reliever Tyler Wells.
Wells shared a humorous story afterward, saying he didn’t even know he ended the game when Justin Foscue popped out for the final out. Wells thought the game was heading to extra innings.
“I saw everyone clapping hands, it’s like, ‘What’s going on? We won?’” Wells said. “I looked up and saw that we had won. I was like, ‘Oh, cool.’ I was still stuck in the previous inning where we were only up by one. That’s on me. That’s kind of the funny story of the night.”
It’s understandable given how the final inning unfolded. Wells was warming up with closer Bryan Baker struggling in the ninth. Baker, the MLB saves leader with 39, issued a nine-pitch walk to the Rangers’ Jake Burger to start the inning. He followed that by issuing a six-pitch walk to Evan Carter.
That was the last batter Baker faced as he visited with manager Kevin Cash and trainer Joe Benge. Both noticed a significant dip in velocity for Baker, who has been battling an illness for the past couple of days.
Baker, who had converted 28 straight save opportunities, said the early exit is “nothing really notable.”
“Just a little sluggish,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s one of those ones when you go out there and realize this is not good, so props to them for recognizing it [the velocity being down] and props to Wells for coming in and cleaning up my mess. That was awesome.”
Asked when he’d be ready to return, Baker smiled and said: “Give me an electrolyte packet and a couple of hours, I think I’ll be OK.”
Everything was going OK for the Rays much of the night.
Starter Nick Martinez looked sharp in his first start against the organization that drafted him in the 18th round of the 2011 Draft. The defense was making plays, including a spectacular diving catch by left fielder Chandler Simpson to record the first out in the bottom of the fourth. And, a night after being held without an extra-base hit, the offense had five -- two home runs and three doubles -- in the first five innings to build a 6-1 lead.
But nothing in this ballpark has come easily for the Rays recently.
That was the case once again as the Rangers stormed back in it. In the seventh, Martinez exited with two on and one out. Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger entered and walked Cody Freeman to load the bases.
Then, Rangers No. 9 batter Elias Díaz stepped to the plate and sent an 87.6 mph slider from Cleavinger over the left-field fence for a grand slam. That pulled the Rangers to within 6-5, but the Rays recovered.
After Cleavinger gave up a single to Foscue, bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate for the Rangers, Rays left-hander Cam Booser ended the seventh by getting Rangers slugger Corey Seager to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
“Huge,” manager Kevin Cash said of Booser’s appearance. “That might be the last person in baseball I want to see come up with the game on the line, just from our experience with Corey Seager, he’s such a good hitter, so talented. And, Booser took a deep breath, made a big pitch and got a double-play ball.”
Kevin Kelly worked a 1-2-3 eighth and the Rays offense delivered once more in the ninth. Junior Caminero came through with an RBI single, extending the Rays lead to 7-5.
That proved to be the game-deciding run as the Rays finally put the Globe Life Field jinx to bed.
“Big win today, especially the stadium here,” Caminero said. “We’ve got to continue to get confidence. Tomorrow is another day and we just keep fighting and get another victory.”
Added Martinez, who improved to 7-1 with a 2.15 ERA in 13 road starts: “Obviously we’re well aware of the 10 games straight losing here and kind of like with teams that don’t like playing in the Trop, I guess the Rays didn’t like playing here.
“Big win, right? Every one is very important now. That’s got to be the focus -- doing whatever we can to just win ballgames.”