Saturday, 4 a.m.
The hole was deep and ominous, the kind of hole that can bury a team.
It didn’t take long for the Tampa Bay Rays to bury themselves there.
It didn’t take long for them to climb out of it either.
It was the sixth inning of Friday’s game against the New York Mets. The Rays, somehow, had slopped around and trailed 5-1, with all five runs being unearned. They had committed three errors. For the day, they would give up seven walks. They balked. They hit a batter.
One half good inning saved them in a 7-5 victory.
The Rays scored six times in the sixth on six hits, most notably a two-run home run by catcher Danny Jansen, who is hitting just .199 on the season. It was enough to elevate the Rays back to five games over .500.
For the Rays, Brandon Lowe, Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda all had three-hit games. Jake Mangum had a two-run single.
For a long time, it didn’t seem as if it would be enough. The Mets scored twice in the fourth and three times in the fifth to take a commanding lead. The Mets had three hits and walked four times in the two innings.
At the time, it seemed as if starter Taj Bradley was on his way to his fourth loss in five games. Instead, Eric Orze worked one inning (the fifth) for his first win of the season.
The Rays and Mets play again today at 1:10 p.m. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Tyler Megill.