ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays made some mistakes that extended Wednesday’s game against the Angels into the 11th inning.
Then they made amends.
Harold Ramirez doubled in the tying run, then a throwing error on David Peralta’s grounder to first base scored Ramirez with the winner Tampa Bay won 4-3.
The inning started with Jose Siri the runner at second, and Brandon Lowe drawing a walk. Ramirez doubled sharply to left, scoring Siri. Lowe was held at third, then thrown out at home when Yu Chang grounded to third. Peralta then grounded to first, and Jared Walsh’s throw skipped past the plate as Ramirez slid in safely.
The Angels took the lead in the top of the 11th when Taylor Ward hit a one-out double off Rays reliever JT Chargois, with Shohei Ohtani scoring from third. Ohtani started the inning on second and moved up on a ground out.
The Rays were in that position because Jason Adam, their top high-leverage reliever, allowed an eighth-inning homer to Mike Trout, and shortstop Taylor Walls, who has been playing dazzling defense, made an errant throw with two outs in the 10th that allowed a run to score.
The Rays posted their sixth walkoff win of the season, though their first since June 25.
The Rays extended their winning streak to five games, one off their season high, in improving to 68-55 and a season-best 13 games over .500. They maintained their hold atop the three-team American League wild-card field and moved to within 7-1/2 games of the idle East-leading Yankees.
The Angels took the lead in the top of the 10th.
With two outs and a runner on third, reliever Jalen Beeks got the dangerous Trout to hit a grounder to third. But shortstop Walls, who has been playing dazzling defense, bounced the throw and first baseman Isaac Paredes couldn’t save him. That allowed Walsh, who started the inning as the runner on second, to score.
The Rays came back to tie it without a hit. Francisco Mejia, their placed runner, went to third on Paredes’ fly to center, and scored on Walls’ sacrifice fly to left.
The Rays didn’t want Adam to take the fall.
Adam has done the dirty work for the Rays much of this season, tasked repeatedly with facing the toughest hitters in the opposing lineup.
So after Adam allowed a homer to Trout to open the eighth, the Rays came back and tied it, with Jose Siri’s speed making a big difference.
Yandy Diaz led off with a single. Siri pinch-ran and quickly stole second, then went to third on Lowe’s slow-rolling ground out. Ramirez grounded sharply to second, but Siri broke on contact and slid in headfirst just ahead of Luis Rengifo’s throw and Max Stassi’s tag.
Siri jumped up and punched the air to celebrate the moment.
Adam had allowed only two homers in working 50-plus innings and none to a right-handed hitter. He hadn’t allowed a run over his last 13 appearances, and only in five of his first 54.
Shane McClanahan entered his start coming off a strong seven-inning, two-run, two-hit Friday outing against the Royals.
The lefty started strong, striking out seven of the first 12 Angels, including stars Trout and Ohtani twice each, and allowing only one hit through five innings, a blooper that first baseman Ji-Man Choi chased down the rightfield line but couldn’t catch.
McClanahan got two quick outs to start the sixth, but a single by David Fletcher off second baseman Lowe’s glove led to an Angels threat and the end of his night. McClanahan allowed a single to Trout, on a well-located changeup well below the zone, then walked Ohtani to load the bases. He got out of it when Rengifo, a former Rays minor-leaguer, grounded to second.
McClanahan needed 27 pitches to get through that inning, and with his total for the game at 90, he was done for the night.
The Rays had a chance in the first inning against Angels right-hander Mike Mayers, loading the bases with one out after singles by Diaz and Lowe, and a one-out walk by Randy Arozarena.
But Peralta popped to third, and Manuel Margot went down swinging.
They had another chance in the sixth when Arozarena doubled with two outs off reliever Jimmy Herget, the USF and Jefferson High product. The lefty-hitting Peralta was intentionally walked, and Margot flied to left.
