Wednesday, May 29. Game 53: Walk-off single by Willy Adames wins game in 11

Rays 4, Blue Jays 3  (11 innings)

Record 34-19

Attendance:  6,166  The second lowest figure in franchise history.

Jose Alvarado did his best to give this one away by allowing a game-tying run in the eighth and leaving with the bases loaded and without getting a single out.  The guy who is supposed to be the Rays premier high leverage reliever thus imploded once again.  How much longer can the Rays go with him?  How much longer can they ignore his inability to command the strike zone, often by throwing his hundred-mile-an hour fast balls into the dirt and often right by a desperate catcher who can't stop the ball from shooting all the way to the backstop?  But this time he was saved by his teammates from being the goat he seemed destined to become.

Hunter Wood relieved Alvarado and got a double play, forcing a run at the plate, and then getting a fly out to center.  That's the kind of magic it took for Alvarado to limit his failure to his own stats and not the team's won-lost record.  The Rays scored in the eleventh on a walk, a single, an intentional walk, and with the bases loaded, a long fly ball by Willy Adames that carried well beyond the drawn-in outfield.  Walk-off Willy.  Notch up another one-run victory and another extra inning win.

Blake Snell gave up two runs on his first three pitches, a single by leadoff hitter Eric Sogard and a home run by Lourdes Gurriel.  But Snell settled down after that and pitched six good innings and leaving with the 3-2 lead that Alvarado gave away.  So Snell gets a no decision and lowers his ERA to 3.06.  The regular cast of relievers followed Snell:  Roe and Kolarek before Alvarado, and Wood and Castillo after Alvarado.  Castillo got the win (1-3).

For such a low-scoring game, the teams combined for a surprising 26 hits, 14 for the Rays.  Predictably they also combined for 57 runners left on base, 30 for the Rays.  The Rays were 3 for 16 (.187) with runners in scoring position.

But in the end, the Rays won their fifth straight, swept the Blue Jays in a three-game set, and ended the night a healthy fifteen games over .500.  And they are only one game out of first place, as the Yankees continue hot, 8-2 in their last ten as compared to the Rays' 7-3.

But tonight Rocco Baldelli leads his Minnesota Twins and their major league best 37-17 record into the Trop.  It remains to be seen how many people will drop in to see the game.