ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brett Phillips doesn’t get a lot of hits for the Rays. But the Seminole native has a knack for making them count.
The star of the wild World Series Game 4 win came through at a key moment Tuesday, his two-run homer with two outs in the sixth leading the struggling Rays to a much-needed 4-3 win over the A’s.
A lack of offense has been a major concern for the Rays, who were shut out Sunday and lost 2-1 on Monday.
Though they went hitless in their first eight at-bats with runners in scoring position to run their streak to 0-for-26 before Joey Wendle singled in Randy Arozarena in the seventh — and though they still have several key members of their lineup batting under .200 — the Rays were pleased to be shaking hands after losing four of their last five and improving to 12-12.
The Rays were down 2-1 and had two outs in the sixth when Francisco Mejia laced a ball 403 feet and off the centerfield wall but, somehow, got only a single. Phillips, hitless in his last six at-bats and batting .143 at the time, lashed a Frankie Montas pitch 417 feet over the left-centefield fence.
The A’s took the lead in the sixth when Matt Olson, who welcomed reliever Jeffrey Springs with a double and moved up on a wild pitch, scored on a sac fly to left. But a sac fly to left that centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier basically jumped in front of leftfielder Randy Arozarena to catch, then threw wide of the plate. Kiermaier has the stronger arm, but he was running hard to his right while Arozarena was pretty much camped under the ball.
Michael Wacha gave the Rays a solid five-inning start, allowing just one run, which came in the second after he gave up singles to the first three hitters. Wacha struck out only two, and was efficient in getting through the Oakland lineup twice (plus two more hitters) on 69 total pitches.
Having been held to one run total over their previous two games, the Rays came out and took the lead in the first. Kiermaier moved to the leadoff spot as one of the few Rays swinging a hot bat, and he led off with a triple into the rightfield corner. After a Brandon Lowe ground out, Kiermaier scored when third baseman Vimael Machin couldn’t make the play on Arozarena’s bouncer.
