Taylor Walls homered Sunday and Zack Littell got his first win after five straight losses as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays completed a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres with a 4-2 decision.
Chandler Simpson scored the tie-breaking run in the top of the fifth inning when he scampered home from third on a wild pitch by Randy Vasquez (1-3). Simpson singled with two outs and reached third on Brandon Lowe’s single.
Simpson added insurance in the ninth when he stroked a two-out RBI single to left that scored Travis Jankowski, finishing a 3-for-4 game. Lowe and Jankowski contributed two hits each to a 10-hit attack as Tampa Bay won its fifth straight game.
Littell lasted five innings, permitting five hits and two runs with a walk and a strikeout. Four relievers worked hitless ball over the last four innings, with Pete Fairbanks pitching the ninth for his sixth save and second in as many nights.
Vasquez allowed five hits and three runs in 4 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out one. That was enough to send San Diego to its fourth straight loss. The Padres have scored just three runs in that span and haven’t scored more than one run in an inning since a two-run second inning Tuesday night in a 2-0 victory at Detroit.
San Diego took its first lead since Tuesday night when Jose Iglesias slapped a two-out RBI single to right-center that scored Xander Bogaerts, who led off with a single and reached second on Oscar Gonzalez’s single. But Littell minimized the damage, thanks to a double-play ball off Tirso Ornelas’ bat.
Walls tied the score with one out in the third, pouncing on a hanging sweeper from Vasquez and lashing it into the right field seats for his first homer. Lowe made it 2-1 later in the inning with a two-out single up the middle that scored Simpson, who walked and swiped second.
Manny Machado’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third scored Fernando Tatis Jr. to even the score at 2.
–Field Level Media
