Wander Franco led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a 411-foot home run to right to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 9-8 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Franco jumped all over a 1-1 slider from Cleveland’s Nick Sandlin (5-5) to smack his 17th homer of the season. Franco had three RBIs and Isaac Paredes hit a two-run homer for the Rays, who blew a three-run, ninth-inning lead before Franco’s heroics.
Myles Straw homered for Cleveland, which has lost 10 of its last 14 games.
Paredes’ 23rd homer of the season in the sixth gave the Rays a 5-4 lead.
Tampa Bay tacked on three runs in the seventh without a hit as they loaded the bases with one out on three walks from Daniel Norris.
Randy Arozarena came up and hit a potential double-play grounder that Andres Gimenez, the second baseman, booted to allow two runs to score. Two batters later, Manuel Margot hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice to give the Rays an 8-4 lead.
Straw homered to left center with one out in the eighth for Cleveland. It was his first blast of the season.
It was the Guardians’ turn to score three runs without a hit in the ninth. They loaded the bases with no outs as Pete Fairbanks walked Jose Ramirez and Kole Calhoun and hit Ramon Laureano with a full-count pitch. After striking out Oscar Gonzalez, Fairbanks uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Ramirez to score.
Fairbanks struck out Brayan Rocchio for the second out and then threw another wild pitch with Calhoun scoring to bring Cleveland within one. Fairbanks walked Bo Naylor and was pulled from the contest.
Robert Stephenson (2-4) entered and his first pitch to Straw was wild. Laureano raced home to knot the score. Straw later struck out to end the frame.
Aaron Civale, who was recently acquired from the Guardians, gave up two runs and seven hits over five innings for Tampa Bay. He struck out two and walked one.
Xzavion Curry allowed five runs and six hits in five-plus innings. He walked two and struck out one.
Laureano’s RBI single accounted for Cleveland’s first run in the third.
The Rays scored three times in the bottom of the inning on Yandy Diaz’s double and Franco’s two-run single.
Steven Kwan delivered an RBI triple in the fourth to pull the Guardians within 3-2.
Cleveland tied the game in the sixth on Straw’s single and took a 4-3 lead two batters later when Gimenez stroked a run-scoring single.
–Field Level Media
