Wednesday, 4 a.m.
He can drive you crazy. He’s been benched for a lack of hustle. He is hitting just .195. Some of his strikeouts are particularly ugly.
Ah, but there are times when Jose Siri is the cavalry, riding down the hill to save the day for the Tampa Bay Rays.
Siri did it again Wednesday night, For the third time on this road trip, Siri gave the Rays a late lead with a two-out, two strike, two-run homer in the seventh inning. That allowed the Rays to win a 3-2 comeback to even their series with the Seattle Mariners.
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Yandy Diaz hit a solo homer in the eighth inning to pad the Rays lead.
The Mariners had taken a 1-0 lead in the sixth when Victor Robles walked, stole second and, with two outs, stole third. Rays’ catcher Alex Jackson threw wild trying to catch Robles stealing, allowing the first run of the game.
The Rays’ Jeffery Springs and Seattle’s Logan Gilbert both pitched well. Springs went five innings, allowed just one hit and struck out nine. Gilbert went six innings, struck out 10 and gave up four hits.
For the game, Rays’ pitchers struck out a season-high 17 batters.
Manny Rodriguez got his second save. The big confrontation, however, came in the eighth when Kevin Kelly struck out former Ray Randy Arozarena on three pitches. Seattle had two runners on at the time.
The Rays finished with eight hits, including two each by Yandy Diaz, Josh Lowe and Jonny DeLuca.
The Rays close out their series against Seattle today at 4:10 p.m. Luis Castillo will start for Seattle. The Rays have not announced a starter,