Brandon Lowe’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly capped a comeback for the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, as they beat the visiting Miami Marlins 3-2.
Yandy Diaz had a hand in each of the runs for the Rays as the designated hitter went 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in. His eighth-inning double chased reliever Valente Bellozo (1-3). Pinch runner Jose Caballero stole third off Calvin Faucher, allowing him to score on Lowe’s fly ball to shallow center.
Edwin Uceta (5-1) pitched a perfect eighth and ninth with three strikeouts for the Rays, who have won five of their last six games.
Rookie Heriberto Hernandez enjoyed the first three-hit day of his major league career, but it was not enough for the Marlins as they fell for the sixth time in their last seven contests.
One day after an 11-10 Marlins win in 10 innings, Sunday’s rubber match of the three-game series was a pitchers’ duel between Miami’s bullpen and Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen, who entered with a 23-inning shutout streak, and three relievers.
It took just three Marlins batters, aided by a Rays fielding blunder, to end that streak. Edwards led off with a single, and he managed to get to third on Jesus Sanchez’s bouncer up the middle.
Shortstop Taylor Walls fielded the ball on the right field side of second base and could not tag Edwards, opting to get Sanchez at first. However, with a shift in place on the left-handed hitter, third baseman Junior Caminero covered second. That allowed Edwards to reach third. He scored on Otto Lopez’s single.
Sanchez made it 2-0 in the top of the fifth when his two-out single brought Hernandez home from second.
Diaz tied it a half-inning later with his two-out, two-run blast, an opposite-field shot to right off Bellozo, the fourth of five Marlins pitchers for the day.
Bellozo allowed all three runs on two hits and a walk over 3 1/3 innings with three strikeouts.
Ramussen surrendered the two runs across six innings, scattering six hits while walking one and striking out three. Sunday’s no-decision was the righty’s first since April 24.
–Field Level Media
