Jose Siri made a great catch in the top of the ninth inning and singled in the winning run in the bottom half of the Tampa Bay Rays’ 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday evening.
Amed Rosario doubled in the ninth inning against Michael Kelly (2-2), went to third on Alex Jackson’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Siri’s hit.
“Unreal (catch), and then it looks like the end of a storybook,” Rays starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot said.
Pete Fairbanks (1-2) survived the ninth after allowing a leadoff double to Miguel Andújar. He retired the next three batters on balls that all hit 100.3 mph or higher, including Zack Gelof’s 108.7 mph drive to center on which Siri made a leaping catch.
Through a translator, Siri called his catch “pretty impressive.”
“I was very focused and could never take my eye off the ball,” he said.
Andújar had a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and put the Athletics up 2-1 with an RBI infield single in the sixth. He hit a three-run homer in Oakland’s 3-0 win over the Rays on Tuesday night.
Tampa Bay won for the second time in nine games. Oakland has dropped 17 of 23.
Max Schuemann was on second when JJ Bleday singled to left in the eighth and, after receiving the signal to try to score, he stopped and returned to third base when left fielder Randy Arozarena threw to plate. When Jackson threw to second base to eliminate Bleday, Schuemann broke in front of the plate and scored to tie Oakland at 3.
Isaac Paredes hit an RBI double in the seventh to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead.
Tampa Bay tied the game at 2 on pinch-hitter Jonathan Aranda’s runscoring single in the sixth inning. The inning ended when Arozarena was thrown out by Scott Alexander on a straight steal attempt to home with Jackson, who is batting on an 0-for-25 slide.
“Arozarena is a real aggressive player,” said Oakland manager Mark Kptsay. “Luckily the dugout yelled loud enough for Scott to get off and made a smart baseball play.”
The Rays tied the score at 1 on Brandon Lowe’s RBI triple in the fourth off Joey Estes.
Estes, in his fourth start this season and sixth overall, allowed one run and two hits in five innings.
“I thought he had some good stuff,” Kotsay said. “I thought he did a really good job and gave us a chance to win the game.”
Pepiot gave up two runs and three hits and struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings.
The game was delayed about 10 minutes with one out in the fifth when plate umpire Brian O’Nora left. O’Nora appeared to have cold symptoms early and was hit on the mask by a foul ball in the fourth inning.
Second base umpire Derek Thomas replaced O’Nora at the plate.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: 1B JD Davis, who left Tuesday night with a bruised hand after being hit by a pitch, did not play but avoided the injured list.
Rays: INF prospect Junior Caminero (quadriceps strain) was placed on the IL by Triple-A Durham and is expected to miss four to six weeks.
NEXT ONE
A’s LHP Kyle Muller (0-1, 3.48 ERA) was scheduled to make his first start of the season on Thursday after making 13 relief appearances. Rays LHP Tyler Alexander (2-3, 6.06 ERA) would start or follow an opener.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
