The Tampa Bay Rays entered Sunday’s series finale looking to avoid being swept for the second time in their last three series, having dropped the first two games in Baltimore.
Zach Littell made his 12th start of the year opposite Orioles’ southpaw Cole Irvin.
The Rays were unable to jump out to an early lead in this one and in the bottom the first the Orioles took and early lead with a leadoff blast from Gunnar Henderson. The no-doubter was his 19th of the year and gave the O’s an early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, Anthony Santander singled home Henderson to extend the O’s lead to 2-0.
The Rays threatened in the top of the 3rd and 4th innings, but were unable to scratch across a run. With two outs in the bottom of the 4th, Littell allowed a single, walk, and RBI single to make the deficit 3-0.
In the top of the 5th inning, the Rays cut the into the O’s lead thanks to a sacrifice fly from Yandy Diaz that scored Jose Caballero. The Ray would threaten in the 6th inning as well, but not score.
In the top of the 7th inning, Jose Caballero blistered a baseball over the left field wall and cut the deficit to just a run. It was his 3rd homer of the year.
Littell’s day would be done after six innings. He tossed 6 innings, surrendered 11 hits, struck out 2 and walked 1, while giving up 3 earned runs. He worked around a good deal of traffic and kept the Rays in the ball game long enough for them to strike in the 8th.
Armstrong threw a scoreless seventh allowing two hits and striking out a pair in the process to keep the score 3-2.
Then, Isaac Paredes started the 8th with a single and was lifted for Richie Palacios. Rosario followed with a single of his own to put the lead run on base. Then, after showing bunt and working a 3-1 count, Jose Siri launched a double to the right-center gap, clearing the bases and giving the Rays a late 4-3 lead. Siri, again came through with late inning dramatics.
Now, with a 4-3 lead, Cash turned to Cleavinger in the bottom of the 8th. He worked around a self inflicted traffic jam on the bases. Pete Fairbanks came on for the save the following inning and worked around a two-out single to lock down the Rays 29th win of the season. The save was his 6th of the year.
The Rays will no head to Miami for a two game set prior to welcoming the O’s to the Trop for a four game set. The Rays record now sits at 29-31.
