Jump for Choi: Walk-off hit caps Rays’ record win
Tampa Bay notches 12th straight home victory
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — With time running short and so much ground to make up, the Tampa Bay Rays probably will miss the postseason. But they look like a playoff team now.
Ji-man Choi hit a two-run homer off Brad Hand with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Rays beat the Cleveland Indians 6-5 on Monday to set a team record with their 12th straight victory at home.
“That was my first career walk-off homer, and that was awesome,” Choi said through a translator.
The Rays have won 17 of 20 overall after a rare victory (2-51) when trailing after eight innings.
Cleveland ace Corey Kluber was chased in the second, but the Indians rallied before blowing a late lead. Even with the defeat, their magic number fell to four to clinch their third consecutive American League Central title when second-place Minnesota lost 7-2 to the New York Yankees.
Durango product Tommy Pham grounded a single to right before Choi went deep against Hand (0-1). Choi entered 1-for21 in his career against lefthanders.
Pham also singled in the second, giving his a career-high 14-game hitting streak.
The Indians have lost six of 10. It appeared Jose Ramirez’s nifty baserunning would help Cleveland overcome Kluber’s poor start.
Ramirez was hit by Chaz Roe’s pitch to start the seventh. He stole second and third before scoring to put the Indians ahead 5-4 with a headfirst slide to beat second baseman Brandon Lowe’s throw home on Yonder Alonso’s grounder.
Kluber lasted 1⅔ innings — matching his career low — and gave up four runs and five hits. The right-hander and Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell are tied for the majors’ wins lead with 18.
“I just wasn’t able to get that last out,” said Kluber, who allowed two hits over seven innings in a 3-0 win over Tampa Bay on Aug. 31.
Jake Bauers homered for the Rays, who moved within 7½ games of Oakland for the second AL wild card with 19 games left.
Jamie Schultz (2-0) worked a scoreless ninth to get the win.
Six Cleveland relievers limited Tampa Bay to one hit entering the ninth. Indians pitchers totaled 16 strikeouts.
After striking out two during an 11-pitch first inning, Kluber was pulled after 44 pitches in the second with the Indians down 4-0. Willy Adames hit an RBI single, Bauers had a tworun shot, and Choi was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.