TAMPA BAY SCORES EQUALIZER

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – The Tampa Bay Rays never doubted themselves, even with Justin Verlander looking to end their season.

Willy Adames homered and made a sensational relay throw from shortstop, and the Rays chased Verlander early in beating the Houston Astros 4-1 Tuesday night to even their AL Division Series at two games apiece.

Tommy Pham also went deep and Ryan Yarbrough combined with five other pitchers on a six-hitter for Tampa Bay. Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell came out of the bullpen for his first career relief appearance, holding off Houston in the ninth inning to earn the save.

Verlander, starting on short rest after dominating the wild-card Rays in Game 1, looked uncomfortable on the mound at Tropicana Field and was pulled in the fourth after giving up four runs.

The series shifts back to Houston for a deciding Game 5 on Thursday night. Astros star Gerrit Cole is scheduled to pitch for the heavily favored AL West champs, who led the majors with 107 wins this season and have one more chance to close out the feisty Rays.

“We’ve got some momentum going for us and we plan on taking it back to Houston,” Tampa Bay center fielder Kevin Kiermaier said.

The winner plays the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series.

Verlander, whose eight career ALDS victories are a major league record, yielded three runs in the first. Adames homered leading off the fourth to make it 4-0, and the Houston ace didn’t make it through the inning.

“A good approach for those guys in the first, and then honestly, I need those infield singles to be caught. When you don’t have it, you need the balls that are put in play to go your way, and they didn’t,” said Verlander, who only started on short rest three other times during his career, including the 2011 ALDS, when he started Games 1 and 3 after Game 1 was suspended in the second inning.

“Obviously, not the way you would script it,” he added. “You know, it sucks.”