Taylor Walls hit a two-run infield single with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting the host Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday.
Texas was nursing a 3-1 lead in the ninth inning before Junior Caminero halved the deficit with a one-out RBI single up the middle off Robert Garcia (1-3).
Christopher Morel reached on an infield single to load the bases with two outs before Jonathan Aranda and Caminero came around to score after the Rangers failed to cover first base on Walls’ base hit.
The wild ending completed a three-game series sweep for Tampa Bay. The Rays recorded a 12th win in 15 games overall and a 10th victory in their past 11 contests at home.
The late uprising made a winner out of Cole Sulser (2-1), who allowed one hit over one scoreless inning.
Garcia permitted three runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning.
Caminero launched a solo shot in the second inning, his team-leading 15th homer of the season and sixth in his past eight games.
Texas’ Marcus Semien belted two solo homers to highlight his three-hit performance.
Jake Burger also went deep and joined Josh Smith in collecting two hits apiece for the Rangers, who have lost 12 of their past 16 games.
Texas relievers Hoby Milner, Shawn Armstrong and Jacob Latz combined to strike out five batters without allowing a hit over three scoreless innings before Garcia encountered trouble in the ninth.
Caminero deposited a 1-1 fastball from Jack Leiter over the wall in center field to open the scoring in the second inning.
Burger forged a tie in the third inning after sending a 0-1 changeup from Ryan Pepiot over the wall in left-center field. The homer was Burger’s eighth of the season.
Semien led off the fifth by depositing a 3-1 fastball from Pepiot over the wall in left field and added a blast off Kevin Kelly with two outs in the seventh inning for a 3-1 lead. Semien boosted his season homer total to six with his third in his past six games.
Leiter allowed one run in six innings, striking out six. Pepiot permitted two runs in six innings, and he fanned eight.
–Field Level Media
