Yandy Diaz's 9th-Inning Single Helps Rays Take Series Opener From Giants, 7-6

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Joe Boyle just didn't have it Friday night. The Tampa Bay starter only got six outs before manager Kevin Cash had to go to the bullpen, and early hooks have usually spelled disaster for the Rays all season.

But they avoided that in a big way, literally matching the San Francisco Giants run for run early, and then getting six innings of shutout ball from the bullpen and winning the game 7-6 with a Yandy Diaz RBI single in the ninth inning.

Starting their fourth straight series on the road, the Rays really needed that one, and they got it. They are now 60-63 on the year and 5-5 on this long West Coast trip that wraps up with two more games against the Giants over the weekend at Oracle Park.

The Giants — losers of six straight — scored six runs in the first three innings, but the Rays answered every time. That hasn't happened very often.

“Most definitely, just to grind this one out, getting down and coming back, then getting down and coming back again, it was a big win for sure,'' said left fielder Chandler Simpson, who had three hits, including a single in the ninth ahead of Diaz's game-winner.

“It kept us in the game and we didn’t let it get out of hand. We kept bearing down and pass the baton, just matching them every inning. It seems like he’s always coming through. When I’m on base and he’s up, it always feels like I’m fixing to score.'' 

Boyle faced only 12 batters and allowed four hits and two walks, giving up four runs. When former Rays shortstop Willy Adames homered to lead off the bottom of the third to give the Giants a 4-3 lead, Cash yanked Boyle for the shortest of his six starts this year.

"I've just got to be ahead in counts more often,'' Boyle said. "I just worked behind in counts too much, and gave them a chance. They put some good swings when I made some good pitches. That's obviously game of baseball, and just how things go. But I can do a better job than that.''

Ian Seymour came in and gave up a double and a walk, and then Giants catcher Patrick Bailey had a two-run double with two outs to make it 6-3.

The Rays tied it right up, though, scoring three times in the fourth inning. The Rays loaded the bases with one out, chasing Giants starter Landon Roupp, and then scored on an infield out by pinch-hitter Christopher Morel and a two-run single by Simpson to tied the game. It was the first multi-RBI game of his career.

Neither team scored again until the ninth, but the Giants blew a golden opportunity in the eighth, loading the bases with none out. Rays reliever Edwin Uceta hit two batters around a Jung Hoo Lee single, but then he got saved by a great play at shortstop by Ha-Seong Kim for the first out.

Then he coaxed a ground ball to first baseman Bob Seymour, who was making his major-league debut, and he made a perfect throw home for a force and the second out. Heliot Ramos grounded out for the final out.

"It was the key play of the game in that inning,'' Uceta said of Kim's catch. "Once I had that first out, I knew that it was just a matter of getting a ground ball so I could get out of the inning.

And the second out?

"I felt the same way,'' Uceta said. "I had the same plan since the first batter. So everything was the same.''

The Rays have scored seven runs or more 33 times this season, third-best in the American League. It came at a good time, too, with the Giants (59-63) struggling so much at home. They have won just once in their past 15 games at Oracle Park. It's the worst 15-game home stretch in San Francisco history, and only they second time they've done it in franchise history, dating back to 1901 when they were the San Francisco Giants.

The Rays will try to win the series on Saturday when Adrian Houser (6-4, .284 ERA) takes on veteran Justin Verlander (1-9, 4.53 ERA). The game starts at 9:05 p.m. ET. The Rays remain 12 games out in the American League, and 5.5 games behind the New York Yankees for the final wild card spot.

The Rays need to close out this 12-game, 14-day road trip in style, and they know it.

"It's important,'' Diaz said of closing strong. "I think winning these games will have everybody relax their minds a little bit more, and hopefully, and we're going to have the win (Saturday) and Sunday.

Junior Caminero hit his 35th home run of the season in the second inning, a solo shot. He's hit eight homers in August, tops in the majors. His 35 homers are sixth-best in Rays history, and the most for any Tampa Bay player under the age or 25.

"Death, taxes and Junior hitting a bomb,'' Simpson said.

Related stories on Rays-Giants