
Friday, 4 a.m.
He is hitting only .143. He doesn’t have a home run. They haven’t sectioned off a portion of the stadium for his fans.
And still, Taylor Walls is a factor.
Walls, the slick-fielding shortstop of the Tampa Bay Rays, showed his worth in Thursday night’s 3-2 victory the Chicago Cubs.
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Walls made a game-saving play with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Rays led 3-2, but the Cubs seemed to have a rally in them. Rays' closer Pete Fairbanks had walked a batter, and he gave up a shot to Nico Hoerner that appeared to be heading into center field.
But Walls dove to his left to glove the ball. From a prone position, Walls flipped the ball from his glove to Brandon Lowe, who turned the double play to end the game.
Leather can do that for a team. It can erase everything that happened beforehand.
You could make an argument that the Rays comeback began when Justin Steele left. Steele had dominated the Rays, shutting them out on three hits over six innings. But as soon as he left, the Rays jumped on the Cubs’ bullpen. They scored three runs off reliever Mark Leiter Jr.
Among the key hits in the inning were a pinch hit single by Josh Lowe, who drove in the team’s first run. Pinch-hitter Ben Rortvedt grounded out to force in the tying run. Then Yandy Diaz drove in the winning run with a single up the middle.
Taj Bradley had a strong game for the Rays. He went seven innings, allowed three hits and no earned runs.
The Cubs scored their first two runs on three consecutive bunts and an error by the Rays.
The Rays travel to Atlanta today to face the Braves in a 7:40 p.m. game. Zack Littell will start for the Rays against Chris Sale.