Not the most conventional way to win, but Rays end Steinbrenner skid

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on May 9, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — The plan was for the Rays to be opportunistic on offense this season.

Not sure if this was exactly what they had in mind, but no one was complaining in the Tampa Bay clubhouse.

The Rays went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position, but scored a go-ahead run in the sixth inning on an interference call and then — after the Brewers tied the score against a depleted bullpen — took the lead again with a Taylor Walls bases-loaded walk in the eighth.

Tampa Bay hung on for 4-3 victory Friday night to snap a seven-game losing streak at Steinbrenner Field.

You could call it unorthodox, but the Rays have been aggressive on the bases all season and it paid off in the sixth inning.

With Junior Caminero at first and Christopher Morel at third with two out, Caminero broke for second base. Catcher William Contreras threw to shortstop Joey Ortiz, who cut in front of second base while Caminero stopped running and Morel ran a few feet toward home.

Caught in no-man’s land, Morel scrambled back to third base while Ortiz rifled the ball to Caleb Durbin. Morel dove head first, but his right hand hit one of Durbin’s feet. Third base umpire James Hoye ruled that Durbin blocked the bag before he had the ball and sent Morel jogging to home plate.

A few minutes later, Hoye sent Brewers manager Pat Murphy to the showers for complaining too vociferously.

With Pete Fairbanks, Manny Rodriguez, Edwin Uceta and Garrett Cleavinger all unavailable in the series opener on Friday, the Rays used Mason Montgomery and Cole Sulser to pitch the seventh and eighth innings with a 3-2 lead.

Montgomery blew through the bottom of the Milwaukee order in the seventh, but Sulser walked leadoff man Brice Turang to begin the eighth. Sulser struck out Contreras and got Christian Yelich to ground out, but Turang advanced to second.

Rhys Hopkins then lined a hard single to left field and Turang beat the throw home.

That meant the Rays needed another run in the eighth, and that also was not your typical winning rally. Morel and Caminero led off with back-to-back singles, but Brandon Lowe struck out on a disputed checked swing. Danny Jansen followed with a walk to load the bases, and Curtis Mead struck out.

That brought up Walls, who has gone 8 for 17 this week. He worked the count full and then took ball four to drive in the go-ahead run.

Eric Orze pitched the ninth for his second big league save.

It was not the easiest night for Zack Littell, but it was rather impressive.

The right-hander caught a bad break in the first inning when he appeared to strike out Jackson Chourio looking, but did not get the call from home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn. A few pitches later, Chourio reached on a swinging bunt that neither Littell nor Caminero could field.

After a stolen base and a single by Contreras, the Brewers were up 1-0.

Littell had another unlucky break in the fourth inning when Sal Frelick reached on catcher’s interference with two runners on base. With the bases loaded and one out, Littell got Durbin to hit a grounder to second but the ball was hit too slowly for a double play and a run scored.

By night’s end, Littell had thrown 90 pitches in hot, humid weather while lowering his ERA from 4.61 to 4.21.