Tuesday, September 24. Game 158: Ji-Man wins the game with 12th inning walk-off homer

Rays 2, Yankees 1  12 innings

Record:  94-64

Attendance:  16,699.  Tropicana Field.

In the third inning of Tuesday night's game, Yankee outfielder Cameron Maybin, who feasts on Rays pitching, hit a solo home run off Yonny Chirinos.  And then in the bottom of the fifth, Kevin Kiermaier evened the game at one with a solo shot of his own.

The game stayed tensely tied for the next six scoreless innings.  The Rays couldn't even score in the bottom of the 11th, their lucky inning.  But leading off the 12th, Ji-Man Choi launched a game-winning, walk-off homer--and the Rays took the first of two games against the AL East winning New York Yankees, who have already won 102 games this year.  The win put the Rays at 94-34, a full 30 games over .500.

The ever-diligent Marc Topkin from the Tampa Bay Times collected a few interesting numbers, as for example that this was the tenth walkoff win this year for the Rays, their eighth in their last 23 home games.  He also pointed out that the Rays lost 12 of their first 17 games this year against the Yankees.  Manager Kevin Cash was quoted after the game, "They've beat us up."  He went on:  "You can't take anything away from what New York has done.  They've beat us, and there's a reason they beat us.  It's because of the depth of their roster and how quality their players, position players and pitchers, are"

But it was a mutual admiration society because Yankee manager Aaron Boone likes Tampa's team too.  "Run prevention.  They're hard to score against.  They have  some really talented starting pitchers and a number of good arms that can match up in situations and a lineup that has some versatility, some power, and some speed. . . . It's one of the best teams in the league in my view."

But on this Tuesday night, the Rays squeezed out a win in 12 innings.  It was a must-win game for the Rays--and so they found a way to do it--they willed it to happen.  The Yankees despite having wrapped up the division, played their usual tough game, using 11 pitchers to smother the Rays for most of the game.  The Rays used nine pitchers, and in the end, it was Pete Fairbanks who got the win, bringing his record to 2-3.  They're peaking at the right time in the season--and with four more games to play, they know what they have to do--win, win, win, win.  It's not very complicated.

Wednesday's game will feature traditional starter, Charlie Morton, shooting for his 16th win, a career high, while New York will counter with an opener who will give way to bulk man J. Happ.  It should be another nail biter.