ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Nothing has come easy for the Rays in 2024 and their walk-off wins against Oakland on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon were evidence of that. Alas, they battled and battled to take two of three from the A’s at Tropicana Field before embarking on a five-game road trip.
“We are resilient,” Richie Palacios said on WDAE after his 12th-inning hit scored Jose Caballero to deliver Thursday’s 6-5 win. “No matter what is going on in the game, we have some dogs in the locker room and we are going to fight hard until the very end.”
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Jose Siri had a memorable 20-hour stretch. With the score tied at three in the top of ninth of Wednesday night’s game, his highlight-reel theft of what would have been a two-run homer by Zack Gelof prevented the Rays from falling behind by two. Instead, the game remained tied until Siri delivered a walk-off single in the bottom half of the inning.
Siri homered twice in Thursday’s game, including the game-tying blow in the bottom of the ninth off Oakland rookie closer, Mason Miller, who made good on each of his previous 11 save attempts.
Can a couple of back-to-back exciting finishes serve as a springboard? Well, the second-place Orioles (35-19) could care less about what the Rays (28-29) did against Oakland. Yet, maybe the Rays arrive Camden Yards for their three-game series beginning Friday evening with a little more fight, a little more spirit, a little more confidence, however you want to put it.
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“Hopefully, we can carry this through to the road trip,” said manager Kevin Cash, whose team has a day off Monday before resuming the trip with a pair in Miami.
For Palacios, the visit to Baltimore will serve as a homecoming of sorts having played three seasons (2016-18) at Towson University, about 15 miles north of the Charm City.
“Definitely exciting to go there and see my college friends, my college coaches, all the guys I played with and it will be awesome to see my family as well,” said the Brooklyn native, who will have family members make their way down I-95. “But it’s still the same game and we are going there to take care of business.”
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