Thursday, 3 a.m.
Ji-Man Choi was dejected. Kevin Cash was ejected.
They're both better now.
Amazing what salvaging a victory can do for a team. The Rays rallied to beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3, in 11 innings Wednesday night, their bats finding enough electricity to pull out a late win.
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The Rays' emotions had been bottled up by yet another starting pitcher for most of the game before the rally, which featured a two-strike double by Choi to drive in Harold Ramirez with the winning run.
Earlier in the at-bat, a strike had been called on a swing that Choi thought he had checked. Choi reacted visibly, and Cash came charging out of the dugout. He was thrown out of the game as he yelled the umpire should have asked for help from the third base ump.
“I didn’t agree with the checked swing (call)," Cash said. "It's a big at-bat right there, It’s a big pitch. It’s a big swing. It puts momentum in favor of the pitcher. I just felt he could have asked the third-base umpire."
Much of the game was a repeat of Tuesday night's 3-0 loss. The Rays' bats were shut down by another starting pitcher (Jon Gray, who allowed just three hits and one run through seven innings. In their last seven games, starting pitchers have held the Rays to 20 hits and nine runs through 47 1/3 innings.
“We have scuffled," Cash said. “Gray was really good again. We couldn’t get anything going. I liked the way the guys stayed at it. It’s very easy to get frustrated and kind of get consumed in the frustration and not do anything, But we were able to scratch and claw and get into extra innings and then it's anyone's ballgame."
The Rays' runs came on a home run by Randy Arozarena and a pinch-hit single by Ramirez. In the 10th, the Rays took a 3-2 lead on a sacrifice fly by Vidal Brujan.
The Rangers tied it in the bottom of the 10th and loaded the bases, but Zach Reks hit a fly to left on a 2-0 count off of Colin Poche. Matt Wisler pitched the 11th for the Rays to get his first save of the season.
The teams play again today at 2:10 p.m. Corey Kluber will start for the Rays against Taylor Hearn.