ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Wild pitch.
Wild game.
They all look like wins the next day.
The Rays finally and barely figured out how to beat their home ballpark on the way out of town Wednesday, and the last-place Mariners along the way, with a 7-6 walk-off win to avoid being swept by Seattle before 7,827 at Tropicana Field.
Seattle struck for three runs in the ninth off Rays reliever Emilio Pagan for a 6-5 lead.
Not so fast. A slump-bustin Kevin Kiermaier tied it in the ninth with a solo home run, giving him four RBIs on the afternoon, and the Rays won it when Willy Adames, who had singled and gone to third on a Mike Brousseau double, scored on a wild pitch from Seattle reliever Matt Magill while Tommy Pham was at the plate.
It wiped out a Seattle comeback attempt in the ninth, punctuated by a two-run triple from former Ray Mallex Smith, who gave Seattle a 6-5 lead with a two-run triple.
There was enough offense, led by three Kiermaier, who added a two-run single and an RBI on a fielder's choice.
But after Colin Poche and Nick Anderson combined for three scoreless innings, Pagan could't hold on for the save. After giving up a solo home run to Daniel Vogelbach, Pagan hit former Rays prospect Jake Fraley, who was making his major league debut with Seattle. After a Dee Gordon single, Smith, who was traded to Seattle last offseason, with Fraley, in exchange for Mike Zunino and Guillermo Heredia, delievred a triple down the right field line, racing the bases as he once did for the Rays.
Pagan, as it turned out, had to settle for the win.
The Rays need every win they can during this stretch of 21 games against decidedly sub-.500 teams, and now they're 10-7 as they head to Baltimore for a four-game series that begins against the Orioles.
But staff ace Morton, a rock all season and coming off an undeserved loss last Friday against Detroit, slipped slightly in the third, giving up a lead-off triple and going from there. Tim Lopes' two-run single eventually put Seattle up 3-2.
But the Rays did some scrambling to make it back on top, and at the Trop, of all places, where they are but 34-31. Tampa Bay won two out of three last weekend against last-place Detroit and easily could have been swept by Seattle, which entered play Wednesday at 54-73 while the Rays were 73-54, just off Oakland and in the second wild card spot by percentage points.
But in the fourth, d'Arnaud singled and Jesus Aguilar, who was later ejected for arguing a strike call, doubled. They eventually came home when Kiermaier, who snapped a 0-for-19 skid Tuesday night, grounded a single to right to give the Rays a 4-3 lead.
The worn Rays bullpen tried to pick up Morton after the fifth inning, with Poche throwing two hitless innings, Anderson throwing a scoreless eighth before giving way to Pagan.
"We've got to get going," Rays manager Kevin Cash said before Wednesday afternoon's game. "We've got an opportunity. We've put ourselves in a position that we should be happy with, but it's time to sort of get going a little bit."
That they did. A little bit.
