ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jose Siri made a tremendous catch in the top of the ninth inning and singled in the winning run in the bottom half in the Tampa Bay Rays’ 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.
Amed Rosario doubled leading off the ninth 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’s like a storybook ending,” 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 all hit 102.3 mph or higher, including Zack Gelof’s 107.7 mph drive to center that Siri made a leaping catch on.
Siri, through a translator, called his catch “pretty impressive.”
“I was very concentrated and never took my eye off the ball,” he said.
Andújar had a fourth-inning sacrifice fly 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 victory 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 getting the signal to try and score, stopped and returned to third when left fielder Randy Arozarena threw to plate. When Jackson threw to second to retire Bleday, Schuemann broke for the plate and scored to draw Oakland even at 3.
Isaac Paredes had an RBI double in the seventh to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead.
Tampa Bay pulled even at 2 on pinch-hitter Jonathan Aranda’s sixth-inning run-scoring single. The inning ended when Arozarena was thrown out by Scott Alexander on a straight steal attempt of home with Jackson, who is in an 0-for-25 slide, batting.
“Arozarena is a real aggressive player,” Oakland manager Mark Kptsay said. ”Thankfully, the dugout yelled loud enough for Scott to step off and he made a smart baseball play.”
The Rays tied it 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 good stuff,” Kotsay said. “I thought he performed really well and gave us a chance to win the game.”
Pepiot gave up two runs, three hits and struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings.
The game was delayed around 10 minutes with one out in the fifth when plate umpire Brian O’Nora departed. O’Nora appeared to have cold-like symptoms early on and got hit on the mask by a foul ball in the fourth.
Second-base umpire Derek Thomas replaced O’Nora at the plate.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: 1B J.D. Davis, who left Tuesday night with a bruised hand after getting hit by a pitch, didn’t 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.
UP NEXT
A’s LHP Kyle Muller (0-1, 3.48 ERA) was set to make his first start of the season Thursday after 13 relief appearances. Rays LHP Tyler Alexander (2-3, 6.06 ERA) was scheduled to start or follow an opener.
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