Rays Top Rangers in 12 Innings to Take Wild-Card Lead
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Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images(ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.) — Desmond Jennings delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers Wednesday.
The win gives the Rays a one game advantage over the Rangers in the race for the top AL Wild Card spot.
“You know what? I want to believe this game has to give us some kind of impetus moving forward,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
The Rangers took the lead in the second inning when Leonys Martin knocked a two-run single off Chris Archer.
The score stayed that way until the sixth when Sean Rodriguez smacked a two-run homer off Derek Holland to tie things up.
It looked like the Rangers had a good chance to win the game in the eleventh. Adrian Beltre hit an RBI single giving them a 3-2 lead and closer Joe Nathan was due to pitch in the bottom of the inning.
Nathan retired the first two batters he faced before walking Matt Joyce. Joyce was replaced by pinch-runner Freddy Guzman who proceeded to steal second base. David DeJesus came up next and hit a single that drove in Guzman to tie the game.
The Rangers couldn’t score in the top half of the 12th leading to Jennings’ game-winning single.
The Rangers (82-69) and Rays (83-68) square off again on Thursday.
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