Rays Rally Late, Walk Off Padres 5-4 in 11 Innings

Rays leave the exit speech unfinished

The Rays spent most of this game looking ready to send everyone home annoyed. Then Jonny DeLuca rearranged the evening, Jorge Mateo supplied the ending, and a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres became the reward for sticking around.

It took 11 innings at Tropicana Field. It also took a ninth-inning rescue and another comeback after San Diego grabbed the lead in extras. Apparently, a straightforward night was not on the menu.

For Pinellas fans watching in St Pete, Clearwater, Dunedin or out at the beaches, this was the danger of reaching for the remote too soon. The offense had barely stirred all night. Then the game became impossible to leave.

Keep that in mind during the next pregame tailgate debate about beating the traffic: sometimes the exit ramp is where regret lives.

A pitchers’ duel with very little elbow room

Drew Rasmussen did his part to keep the Rays within reach. He worked 6.0 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 4 hits, with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. Not a free pass through the Padres lineup, but plenty good enough to give his offense a chance.

San Diego’s Robbie Ray made that chance look awfully narrow. Over 6.0 innings, he held Tampa Bay to 3 hits and a single earned run, walking 3 and striking out 4.

Neither side scored through the first three innings. The Padres finally broke through for two runs in the fourth, and the Rays answered with one in the bottom half. At 2-1, the game still had room to turn. It just wasn’t turning very quickly.

San Diego added a run in the seventh to make it 3-1. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, had stopped scoring after the fourth. Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Rays had one run through eight innings and very little time left to improve the review.

This wasn’t an offensive fireworks show. It was a damp matchbook waiting for somebody to get stubborn.

DeLuca rescues it, Mateo ends it

DeLuca supplied the spark without bothering with a slow build.

With the Rays down 3-1 in the ninth, he launched a two-run homer to tie it 3-3. A game that had been inching toward disappointment suddenly needed extra innings. The Trop erupted, and all that quiet at the plate became somebody else’s problem.

That swing earns DeLuca a hefty share of the credit. There is no walk-off celebration without first escaping the ninth, and he handled that assignment with considerably more style than a routine rally.

The Padres weren’t finished, though. They scored in the 11th to take a 4-3 lead, putting the Rays back in the same uncomfortable position: behind, with a response required.

Mateo delivered it, plating two runs for the 5-4 walk-off victory. DeLuca had kept the night alive; Mateo finally let everyone exhale.

That’s the whole comeback in miniature. Tampa Bay needed two runs in the ninth and got them. It needed another answer in the 11th and got two more. After spending most of the game searching for offense, the Rays found it exactly when there was nowhere left to hide.

A win, not a prophecy

No need to turn this into a grand declaration about destiny. The result is satisfying enough on its own: solid work from Rasmussen, a huge swing from DeLuca and the finishing touch from Mateo.

The Rays gave themselves a chance, nearly ran out of time, then made the ending worth the aggravation. That plays just fine around here.

The homestand continues. Check the official Rays schedule for game times and opponents. Maybe leave the early-exit plan in the glove compartment.

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