ARLINGTON, Texas _ Tuesday started out as a pain in the neck for the Rays, as center fielder Kevin Kiermaier woke with a severe one that kept him out of the lineup and left him extremely frustrated with an uncertain timetable to return.
The discomfort seemed to shift to a different location mid-game as Nick Solak, a prospect traded in July to the Rangers, hit a two-run homer against his ex-mates that looked like it might be enough for a Texas win.
But at the end of the long night, the Rays ended up feeling pretty good, as they pulled out a 5-3 win.
First they tied the game in the eighth, when Joey Wendle tripled and Austin Meadows, working on another AL Player of the Week award, homered, the 29th of his stellar season.
And then they won it in the 11th with some help, scoring the go-ahead run after the Rangers made two throwing errors on the same play. With Rays on second and first, Kean Wong rolled a ball up the first base line. Pitcher Emmanuel Chase had trouble picking it up, then threw past first. Second baseman Rougned Odor then sailed a throw to second into left field, and Nate Lowe raced home.
Guillermo Heredia singled in an insurance run. Pete Fairbanks, acquired for Solak, closed it out after allowing a lead-off single for his first career save.
That inspired win extended the Rays' latest winning streak to a season-high matching six, and continued the momentum in what is now an 11-1 run that pushed them to the top of the AL wild card standings.
At 87-59, they're still there with some room to spare with 16 games remaining, maintaining a 1{-game lead over the A's, who blasted the Astros 21-7, and staying at least two ahead of the Indians, who were playing late.
With Kiermaier, Tommy Pham, Eric Sogard and top two catchers Travis d'Arnaud and Mike Zunino out of the lineup for assorted reasons and veteran Lance Lynn on the mound, the Rays didn't do much offensively over the first seven innings, just four hits and one run. Also of note, Avisail Garcia left in the eighth inning due to right hip tightness.
The Rangers, meanwhile, scored three on three hits off Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough.
But then the Rangers switched to Rafael Montero for the eighth, and the Rays took quick advantage. Wendle laced Montero's third pitch for a triple to right. Two pitches later, just crowned AL Player of the Week Meadows laced a two-run homer to center, his fifth in his last eight games and the 29th of his stellar season.
Nick Anderson continued his dominance in the eighth, and Colin Poche worked into and then out of a mess in the ninth by walking two with two outs.
