Adames, Rays chase Verlander, even series
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Willy Adames homered and made a sensational relay throw from shortstop, Tommy Pham also went deep and the Tampa Bay Rays chased Justin Verlander early in beating the Houston Astros 41 Tuesday night to even their AL Division Series at two games apiece.
Ryan Yarbrough and five other pitchers combined on a sixhitter 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 wildcard Rays in Game 1, looked uncomfortable on the mound and was pulled in the fourth after giving up four runs.
The bestoffive series shifts back to Houston for a decisive Game 5 on Thursday.
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 40, 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,” Verlander said.
“Obviously, not the way you would script it. You know, it sucks.”
The Rays helped themselves by playing stellar defense, especially with the Astros threatening to cut into their threerun deficit. Adames and center fielder Kevin Kiermaier executed a perfect relay to nail Jose Altuve trying to score from first on Yordan Alvarez’s double that Kiermaier handled cleanly off the wall before turning and throwing to cutoff man Adames. He fired home just in time to get the speedy Altuve.
“That was probably the most incredible relay throw from an infielder I’ve ever seen,” Kiermaier said.