*Photo from the Boston Globe*
Back and forth games are what makes baseball great. Gabriel Arias homered, Steven Kwan drove in the winning run, and the Cleveland Guardians rallied to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays with a 7-6 victory in extra innings on Saturday.
Despite plenty of momentum shifts, the Guardians won their 4th straight game and second against Tampa Bay, winning the series in walk off fashion. Despite 6 wins in 10 games, the Guardians still trail the Minnesota Twins by 5 games for first place in the AL Central.
Kwan said of the win "That was definitely a strange one, but we just scrapped it out. We’ve had some extra-inning shenanigans against Tampa for sure. When we get everybody going, we can get really dangerous."
Yandy Diaz gave the Rays a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a solo home run. Kwan then scored on a groundout in the bottom of the first to tie the game 1-1. Arias scored on a groundout in the second inning to make it 2-1. Arias then hit a two run home run in the 4th to make it 4-1 Guardians. Christian Bethancourt then tied it in the 5th for the Rays, hitting a 3 run home run.
Jose Siri put the Rays ahead 5-4 in the 6th with a solo home run. In the 9th, Myles Straw scored on an RBI single by Kwan to tie it 5-5 and force extra innings. Brandon Lowe put the Rays ahead 6-5 in the top of the 11th on a sac fly. In the bottom of the 11th, Jose Tena tied it 6-6 with an RBI single. That set the stage for Kwan, who hit a sac fly that scored Bo Naylor to give the Guardians a walk off win.
Logan Allen allowed 4 runs on 7 hits and no walks in 5 innings in his start for Cleveland. Nick Sandlin got the next two outs before Matt Moore pitched 1 1/3 innings. Reynaldo Lopez, Enyel De Los Santos, Emmanuel Clase, and Sam Hentges all threw an inning each, with Hentges getting the win.
Zack Littell started for the Rays, allowing 4 runs on 9 hits in 4 2/3 innings. Jake Diekman pitched 1 1/3 innings before Shawn Armstrong and Colin Poche each threw a scoreless inning. Pete Fairbanks allowed a run in the 9th before Robert Stephenson pitched the 10th. Chris Devenski lost the game in the 11th.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the game "Frustrating loss. I thought the guys played well. Effort was there. We did a lot of good things to come back. They just did the little things a little bit better than we did."
The series concludes on Sunday afternoon. Xzavion Curry starts for the Guardians as they go for the sweep, while Taj Bradley goes for the Rays as they try to salvage a win.
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