St. Petersburg, FL – Jackson Merrill hit a 2-run homer in the fourth inning and Xander Bogaerts delivered a 9th inning sacrifice fly to lead the San Diego Padres to the 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Tanner Scott (9-5, 1.51 ERA) worked a scoreless eighth inning and picks up the win for the Padres who improve to 78-61 with the victory. Robert Suarez worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 30th save. It was San Diego’s first series win in Tampa Bay since 2010. It marks the Padres 10th series win in their last 13 matchups overall.
Manuel Rodriguez (3-4, 2.43 ERA) allowed a run in the top of the ninth and takes the loss for Tampa Bay who fall to 67-69. Rodriguez walked Jake Cronenworth leading off the ninth who came around to score the winning run. The walk to Cronenworth was the 10th walk by Rays pitching on the day. It was the second straight series loss the Rays have suffered and they have lost three straight rubber matches.
Neither starting pitcher was involved the decision. Dylan Cease starts for the Padres working 5+ innings and was charged with three earned runs on two hits while striking out four and walking three. Ryan Pepiot started for the Rays and worked 3+ innings allowing three earned runs on four hits while walking four and striking out four.
San Diego jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning on a 2-run homer by Jackson Merrill and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jurickson Profar.
Cole Sulser worked a career high 2.2-innings in relief of Ryan Pepiot who departed with 2-on and nobody in the third inning. He departed after walking Jurickson Profar with 2-out in the top of the sixth. Richard Lovelady walked one but stranded the runner to keep the deficit at 3-0.
Tampa Bay cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Dylan Cease walked Jose Siri and Yandy Diaz and a single to Brandon Lowe to load the bases with nobody out. Former Ray Jason Adam entered and hit Junior Caminero to plate Jose Siri with the Rays the first run. Josh Lowe grounded into a double play soring Yandy Diaz with the second run with Brandon Lowe advancing to third. Lowe scored the tying run on a Jason Adam wild pitch.
Richard Lovelady retired the first two batter in the top of the seventh before walking Jackson Merrill and being replaced by Edwin Uceta who retired Luis Campusano on a fielders choice to end the inning.
The Padres scored the game winning run in the top of the ninth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Xander Bogaerts that put the Padres up 4-3.
Roster Moves:
Major League rosters can expand two players from 26 to 28 on September 1st. The Rays filled their two vacancies by selecting the contract of catcher Logan Driscoll from the Durham Bulls and activating starting pitcher Zack Littell who is expected to start against the Minnesota Twins on Monday evening.
Littell has been on the injured list with a sore shoulder since August 15th. His last outing came against the Houston Astros on August 14th when he allowed 1 earned run in five innings.
Driscoll was a second round pick of the San Diego Padres in 2019 out of George Mason University. Tampa Bay acquired him along with Manuel Margot in a trade that sent Emilio Pagan to the San Diego Padres on February 8, 2020. Driscoll has appeared in 70 games with the Triple-A affiliated Bulls posting a .292/.367/.473 with 7 homers in 294 plate appearances. He grades well in pitch framing as well as controlling the running game. In his minor league career he as appeared in 19 games at 1b, 48 games in right field, and four games at 3b.
McGriff To Rays Hall of Fame
Fred McGriff became the fifth member to join the Rays Hall of Fame joining Wade Boggs (2023), Carl Crawford (2023), Don Zimmer (2023), and Dave Wills (2024). McGriff, a Tampa native, is the Rays all-time leader in on-base-percentage (.484) and On-Base+Slugging Percentage (OPS [.864]). He ranks second in batting average (.291), sixth in walks (305), seventh in RBI (359), and eighth in home runs (99). He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame i 2023 becoming the fourth Tampa native alongside Tony La Russa, Wade Boggs, and Al Lopez.
Up Next For Rays:
The Rays continue their homestand and welcome in the Minnesota Twins for a four game series starting Monday evening at 6:50 p.m. Zack Littell (5-8, 3.89 ERA) returns from the injured list (sore shoulder) to take the mound for Tampa Bay. The Twins will counter with Simeon Woods Richardson (5-3, 3.85 ERA).