ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Brandon Lowe hit a game-ending single leading off the 10th inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied from another late deficit to beat the Colorado Rockies 6-5 on Wednesday night.
Lowe's hit to right off Brent Suter (4-2) scored automatic runner Osleivis Basabe.
Yandy Díaz tied it at 5 with a two-run single in the ninth off Rockies closer Justin Lawrence. The AL batting leader went 2 for 4 and raised his average from .328 to .329.
Pete Fairbanks (2-4) pitched a perfect 10th.
Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes homered for the AL wild card-leading Rays, who scored nine times in the eighth inning to win Tuesday’s series opener 12-4.
Elias Díaz drove in three runs for the NL-worst Rockies. He tied it at 1-all on his 13th homer during the fifth and had a two-run single during a four-run sixth that put the Rockies up 5-2.
Colin Poche replaced Rays starter Adam Civale with two on and no outs in the sixth and walked Ryan McMahon on a 3-2 pitch. After striking out Brendan Rodgers and Nolan Jones on full counts, Elias Díaz lined his two-run hit to left.
Poche walked Jurickson Profar to reload the bases before Andrew Kittredge entered and hit Elehuris Montero with a pitch and gave up an RBI single to Brenton Doyle as Colorado went ahead 5-2.
Paredes cut the Rays' deficit to 5-3 on his team-leading 25th homer later in the sixth.
Colorado's Austin Gomber allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. Civale allowed three runs and four hits, striking out nine.
Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead in in the fifth on Yandy Díaz's RBI single. Arozarena put the Rays up 1-0 in the third with his 20th homer.
VERY RARE FINISH
Colorado came in as the second team in major league history to lose two straight games in which it led in the eighth inning or later and allowed seven or more runs in the eighth inning or later, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The other was the 1893 NL champion Boston Beaneaters — today’s Atlanta Braves — against the Cleveland Spiders. The Rockies' loss to the Rays Tuesday followed Sunday’s 10-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox in which they gave up seven runs in the eighth.
UP NEXT
Rockies RHP Peter Lambert (3-4) will go against a Rays bullpen game on Thursday.
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