ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – It looked for a while Thursday afternoon at Tropicana Field like the Rays might lose two of three to Anaheim for only their second series loss since the second week of August.
Instead, Manny Margot’s single with two outs in the ninth inning drove home Yandy Diaz to cap a two-run rally in a 5-4 win over the Angels.
Coupled with Baltimore’s loss in Cleveland on Thursday night, the Rays are within 1.5 games of the first-place Orioles in the American League East.
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After losing to the Angels Wednesday night, 8-3, the Rays (94-60) found themselves trailing 4-2 heading into the bottom of the sixth, when they made it a one-run game. Given they are chasing a division crown, the comeback against an Angels (69-84) team missing several players, including Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout, was much needed.
“It doesn’t really matter who we are playing at this point,” said Zach Eflin, who threw 92 pitches in five innings (10 strikeouts) before departing with the score tied at two. “We are trying to win games and obviously win the division, so it doesn’t matter if it’s the Angels or if it’s somebody 40 games over .500. Any win at this point in the year is big for us.”
The Rays have eight games remaining with six against the Blue Jays, who visit the Trop for a three-game weekend series beginning Friday night. The series will close out the Rays’ regular season home schedule.
Toronto (85-68) is fighting for its wild-card life with Seattle and Texas. One of the three teams will not make the cut. The Blue Jays lost to the Yankees on Thursday evening and are one-half game ahead of both the Mariners and Rangers.
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Tampa Bay has not played Toronto since May 22-25 when John Schneider’s team visited the Trop. The Rays took three of four with a 20-1 loss being the only blemish.
“We haven’t played them in a while,” said manager Kevin Cash. “We know they are a good team. More importantly for us, we just want to continue winning games and have that feeling going into the postseason, wherever we are, that we finish really, really strong.”
Following the weekend series against the Blue Jays, the Rays will complete the regular season on the road. They have a day off Monday before a two-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. That will be followed by three games in Toronto beginning next Friday to close out the schedule.
Tyler Glasnow (9-6, 3.53 ERA) will be on the mound for Tampa Bay on Friday evening. He will be opposed by Chris Bassitt 14-8, 3.78).
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