LOS ANGELES _ If the Tampa Bay Rays end up making it into the playoffs, there are going to be several games that proved to be key points on their path.
Add Wednesday's 8-7 11-inning win over the Los Angeles Dodgers to that list.
Two outs from a third straight loss and a fifth in seven games, the Rays rallied in the ninth to tie the NL leaders, and then stuck again in the 11th to beat them.
Austin Meadows delivered the game-winner, fittingly, with a home run, his 32nd of the season, leading off the 11th against Josh Sborz. The Rays added an insurance run when Tommy Pham doubled for his career-high and team-record tying fifth hit of the night, then moved around on a ground out and a sac fly.
Rookie Pete Fairbanks, one of the conspirators in their Tuesday loss, closed it out, though with some drama as he allowed a one-out single then rightfielder Avisail Garcia botched a Will Smith fly near the line. Joey Wendle snagged a liner for the second out. Edwin Rios singled in a run to make it 8-7. Russell Martin struck out to end it.
The ninth-inning tying rally started when Pham singled and stole second, then Matt Duffy walked. Ji-Man Choi, after taking a close two-strike pitch, delivered a huge hit, scoring Pham and sending pinch-runner Johnny Davis to third. D'Arnaud stepped up and delivered, as he has so many times this season, with a sac fly that easily scored Davis.
The win improved the Rays to 90-63 with nine games to play, and most importantly, kept them one-game ahead of the Cleveland Indians for the second wild-card spot. They also stayed two games behind the wild-card leading Oakland A's. Both the A's and Indians won earlier Wednesday on walkoffs.
Also of note, the Rays also spoiled a party in New York, as the Yankees, after losing earlier Wednesday, stuck around their clubhouse to celebrate clinching the AL East title, which they would have done with a Rays loss. That's the same AL East title the Rays were eyeing through mid-June when they last led the Yankees.
Much of Wednesday's game went back-and-forth. The Dodgers scored the tying run in the sixth on a single through the shift and then the go-ahead run on a passed ball after an apparent cross-up on signs between reliever Nick Anderson and catcher Travis d'Arnaud.
The Rays got off to a good start on Wednesday as Pham reached on an error and came around on singles by Nate Lowe and d'Arnaud for a 1-0 first inning lead.
That didn't last long, however. Rookie starter Brendan McKay had a rough second inning, allowing a leadoff double, a walk then a two-run double to Max Muncy. The Dodgers made it 3-1 when Meadows made the decision to catch Smith's foul fly ball without being positioned to make a strong throw home, and Muncy tagged up.
But the Rays came back in the fifth to tie it.
Willy Adames drew a leadoff walk and after Rays manager Kevin Cash let McKay, who has two-way talent, hit and fly out, Meadows also got a free pass from Tony Gonsolin.
Pham, who after Tuesday's game called for a sense of urgency among his Rays mates, saying "We've got to focus on the right now," did his part, lacing a double down the third-base line that scored both to make it 3-3.
With the score tied, Cash, interestingly, changed his pitching plans and summoned Diego Castillo, then later used Chaz Roe, Oliver Drake, Anderson, Andrew Kittredge, Emilio Pagan and Colin Poche.
The Rays took a lead in the sixth, with Adames doubling with two outs and Jesus Aguilar delivering a pinch-hit single to score him.
Then the Dodgers took it right back. Two singles and a stolen base off Roe set them up. Cash went to Drake, rather than struggling rookie lefty Colin Poche, and he struck out lefty swinging Cody Bellinger.
But then Cash went to Anderson, who has been dominant since being acquired from the Miami Marlins but slightly less so as of late.
And that didn't work out, as he allowed a single that Joe Pederson rolled through the shortstop spot left vacant by the shift that scored the tying run.
Worse, with two outs, Anderson and d'Arnaud had what certainly appeared to be a cross-up over signs that led to a pitch bouncing off d'Arnaud and away enough for Chris Taylor to score the go-ahead run.
Bellinger added a homer off Pagan in the eighth to make it 6-4, but the Rays kept coming back.
The Rays open their final homestand on Friday, hosting the Boston Red Sox and Yankees, who will still be playing for homefield advantage.
