ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Several hours after his formal induction into the Sports Club of Tampa Bay Hall of Fame, former Rays manager Joe Maddon watched his current team oblige him with a bit of pop and circumstance.
At least momentarily.
The Rays survived two first-inning Angels home runs with three runs in the bottom of the first, then got a solid effort from an ensemble of pitchers for a 4-3 triumph Friday before a Tropicana Field crowd of 7,909. The win, Tampa Bay’s third in a row, was the 500th for manager Kevin Cash.
A night after topping the Red Sox, 1-0, when Manuel Margot scored on a walk-off wild pitch, the Rays (46-31) delivered another bizarre climax.
With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, pinch-hitter Brandon Lowe was hit by sidearm right-handed reliever Steve Cishek, allowing Yandy Diaz to score the winning run. Preceding Lowe was Austin Meadows’ high, one-out popup to shallow left field that fell between a triangle of Angels players, loading the bases.
Joey Wendle followed with a sharp liner over the middle that was snagged by shortstop Jose Iglesias, who stepped on second to double off Ji-Man Choi and end the inning.
Four batters into the game, Maddon’s club had a 2-0 lead. Angels resident pitcher-slugger Shohei Ohtani sent Rays opener Andrew Kittredge’s third pitch deep to right field, where it hit a D-ring catwalk en route to a 453-foot home run. The blast, which had a 116.1-mph exit velocity, was Ohtani’s career-best 24th of the season, and sixth in his past nine games.
Three batters later, Anthony Rendon followed with a solo homer to left.
The lead was as fleeting as a Florida thunderstorm.
The Rays scored three in the bottom half of the inning off 25-year-old right-hander Griffin Canning, who allowed a leadoff single to Diaz before walking Choi. Rookie Wander Franco followed with a deep fly that left fielder Taylor Ward couldn’t handle, scoring Diaz. Meadows followed with a two-run hit to left-center, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.
The Angels added an unearned run in the third, putting runners at the corners before Jared Walsh’s sharp grounder to Choi, whose quick throw home was dropped by catcher Francisco Mejia, allowing David Fletcher to score.
The eventful start belied a strong collective effort by a quintet of Rays pitchers.
Kittredge followed his shaky opening inning with a seven-pitch second. Left-hander Josh Fleming followed him and, after a sketchy four-batter sequence resulting in an Angels unearned run, retired 11 in a row. Collin McHugh allowed only one hit over 1 1/3 innings, Matt Wisler pitched a perfect eighth and Diego Castillo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
