Tampa Bay 9, Cleveland 8
When: 7:10 PM ET, Monday, July 5, 2021
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Dan Merzel, 1B -
Greg Gibson, 2B -
Will Little, 3B -
Rob Drake
Attendance:
8832
By Field Level Media
Tampa Bay's Yandy Diaz chopped a walk-off fielder's choice in the ninth inning as the Rays rallied for a 9-8 win Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla., handing the Cleveland Indians their season-worst seventh consecutive loss
With the Rays trailing 8-7 in the ninth, rookie Wander Franco lined a single to left to score pinch runner Brett Phillips with no outs, tying the game against Cleveland's Emmanuel Clase (3-4).
After an intentional walk to Austin Meadows filled the bases, Diaz hit a high hopper that Cleveland second baseman Cesar Hernandez fielded. However, Hernandez's throw home wasn't close as Randy Arozarena crossed with the game-winning tally.
Diaz produced two hits, including a solo homer, to go along with his first career walk-off RBI. Brandon Lowe clubbed his first career grand slam and Manuel Margot went 4-for-4 with two RBIs for Rays, who won for the 11th time in their past 13 meetings with the Indians.
Pete Fairbanks (2-3) earned the win with a perfect top of the ninth.
Cleveland's Franmil Reyes rocketed his 12th homer -- his first since returning from a monthlong injured-list stay caused by an abdominal stream. He also doubled, tied a career high with five RBIs and stole a base.
The Indians scored all of their runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Owning just nine hits against left-handed pitching this year to start the game but four of them homers, Lowe crushed a 1-1 center-cut fastball to right after the Rays loaded the bases with one out in the second inning. The blast came off Indians lefty Logan Allen.
Down 4-0, the Indians scored in the fourth when Amed Rosario opened with a double and came home on Reyes' hard single to left.
After the Rays pushed the lead back to four on a sacrifice fly by Margot in the bottom of the fourth, Cleveland rallied in the fifth. Rosario had an RBI groundout and Jose Ramirez followed with a run-scoring single. Reyes slammed a two-run homer to round out the four-run frame and knot the game at 5.
A looping single just beyond a drawn-in infield by Hernandez in the sixth plated Oscar Mercado to give the Indians their first lead of the contest.
Reyes padded the margin three batters later with a two-run double -- his third hit in three innings for an 8-5 advantage.
Margot hit an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth. Diaz's homer in the seventh pulled the Rays within 8-7, setting up the ninth-inning heroics.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Cleveland |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Logan Allen
|
Player |
Rich Hill
|
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
3.1 |
IP |
3.2 |
|
0 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
|
7 |
Hits |
3 |
|
13.50 |
ERA |
2.45 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Cleveland
|
13 |
1 |
18 |
.333 |
20 |
12 |
8 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
| Tampa Bay
|
14 |
2 |
21 |
.378 |
11 |
5 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
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