Thursday, 4 a.m.
How would you prefer to win a game?
Would you rather win on instant replay? Would you want to go to the monitors to judge that the the of Elehuris Montero had left the bag before the ball arrived? Would you love high-fiving the replay guy? Would you want a voice from New York to say, yeah, you won.
Or would you prefer to watch Brandon Lowe hit a sharp single to left field to drive in Osleivis Basabe to end things? Would you rather watch Lowe, batting against a left-hander, slap the third pitch he faced to end things. Would you want to watch Lowe with his second walk-off of the year.
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No, this way is more fun. This way, the Rays won it rather than have the Rockies lose it.
The Rays seemed to win both ways Wednesday night in a 6-5 comeback win over Colorado in 10 innings. The Rays trailed 5-3 going into the ninth inning, but came back to win for the 26th time this season.
The Rays tied the game in the ninth on a two-run single by Yandy Diaz. But with the bases loaded, Isaac Parades grounded to deep short. Replays indicated that the throw pulled Montero off the bag, allowing the winning run to score.
The umpires, however, ruled that the call stood.
It didn’t matter. Pete Fairbanks was dominant in the ninth inning, and Lowe immediately drove in pinch-runner Basabe. Fairbanks got the win.
Parades did hit his team-leading 25th home run for the Rays. Randy Arozarena hit his 20th. Diaz, Jose Siri and Josh Lowe all had two hits.
Aaron Civale started the game strong for the Rays, giving up only four hits in five innings. He ran into trouble in the sixth, however, with a hit batter and a bloop single. Before the inning was over, the Rays had given up three hits, two walks and two hit batters.
The Rays were able to stay two games behind Baltimore (which beat Toronto 7-0).
The Rays and Rockies conclude their series today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. It will be a bullpen day for the Rays. Peter Lambert will start for Colorado.