Rays defeat Angels 9-6 in 10 innings
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Despite the Angels turning their first triple play in 26 years and Shohei Ohtani hitting his second grand slam in the majors, Los Angeles still found a way to lose.
Harold Ramírez had three hits and Josh Lowe drove in three runs as the Tampa Bay Rays rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Angels in 10 innings Friday night.
“You’re probably not supposed to win that game after we give up that home run to Ohtani,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We had a lot of big atbats late and certainly to get back into the ball game. I feel like offensively we’ve been doing a lot of good things lately and we needed every one of them today.”
Tampa Bay (74-50) has won five of its last seven. It holds the first AL wild card spot and is two games behind Baltimore for the AL East lead.
Ohtani’s grand slam in the second inning gave the Angels a 5-1 lead, but they were unable to make it stand. The Rays appeared as if they might take the lead in the ninth inning, but the Halos turned their first triple play in 26 years to keep it tied at 6.
With runners at the corners and the infield playing shallow, Ramirez hit a grounder to Luis Rengifo. The shortstop made the short toss to second baseman Brandon Drury to get Randy Arozarena and then threw to first baseman Nolan Schanuel, who was playing in his first big-league game.
Yandy Diaz was at third but did not go when the ball was hit. He waited until Drury threw to first to start home, but Schanuel made a perfect throw to catcher Logan O’Hoppe, who tagged out Diaz on his left shoulder before he could touch home. O’Hoppe was activated from the injured list earlier in the day after missing nearly four months due to a torn right labrum in his shoulder.
“When you see a rookie like that you hope that he gets a little bit nervous. But that play it seemed like he had been playing in the big leagues for 10 years,”
Diaz said of Schanuel.
Despite being the first team since Detroit in 2017 to hit a grand slam and turn a triple play in the same game, the Angels woes continue. They have dropped three of their last four and are 4-12 in August.
Los Angeles (60-63) is also 71⁄2 games out of the final wild card spot.
The Angels had a chance to win it in the ninth when they had runners on first and second with one out, but Ohtani struck out and Drury grounded out to send it into extra innings.
“We certainly had our opportunities there. We just didn’t push a run across,” Nevin said. “A couple got away there in the ninth inning. That’s what happens when games get like this.”
The Rays finally broke through with three in the 10th. Pinch-runner Jose Siri started on second as the automatic runner and advanced to third on a wild pitch by Carlos Estevez (5-4).
Luke Raley drove in Siri for the goahead run while Lowe and Rene Pinto also had RBI base hits.
Estevez – who was successful in his first 23 save opportunities to begin the season – has struggled in August. He is 0-3 with three saves and a 14.14 ERA in seven outings this month.
Andrew Kittredge worked the 10th for his first save. Pete Fairbanks (1-4) got the win.
Grand tour
Ohtani lined an 89.9 mile per hour cutter from Erasmo Ramírez over the wall in right field for his 43rd homer of the season and tie Atlanta’s Matt Olson for the major-league lead.
Both of Ohtani’s grand slams have come against the Rays.
Huge save
It was Kittredge’s first outing since June 7, 2022, after he underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow on June 22, 2022.
“I’m glad that I got it out of the way,” Kittredge said. “My nerves didn’t overcome me too bad. I didn’t imagine that was the situation I was gonna get thrown into but happy to come out with a W.”