Field Level Media
Jul 4, 2018
Rookie Jake Bauers smacked a two-out, two-run double in the top of the 16th inning Wednesday morning, breaking a tie and igniting a five-run explosion that gave the Tampa Bay Rays a 9-6 victory over the Miami Marlins in a game that lasted 5 hours, 31 minutes in Miami.
The game was the longest for the Rays since an 18-inning affair against Baltimore in 2013. The Marlins had a 17-inning game in March against the Chicago Cubs.
After neither team had scored since the fifth inning, the Rays finally broke through against Brett Graves (0-1), the Marlins' eighth pitcher.
Johnny Field led off the 16th with a single and took second when Carlos Gomez was hit by a pitch.
Both baserunners were eliminated on a double play grounder that left Kevin Kiermaier at first, before Matt Duffy drew a walk and Bauers came through with his go-ahead double.
The Rays then broke the game open when, after Wilson Ramos was intentionally walked, winning pitcher Vidal Nuno delivered his second hit of the game, a single that scored Bauers.
Daniel Robertson then doubled in Ramos and Nuno, completing the five-run uprising.
Nuno (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings to get the win. Jose Alvarado and catcher Jesus Sucre, making his fourth career pitching appearance, combined on a three-hit, two-run bottom of the 16th to wrap up the wild win.
Alvarado, who got the final two outs, was credited with his third save.
Nuno's hits were just the third and fourth of his five-year career.
After Miami had scored four runs on nine hits in the first five innings, the Tampa Bay bullpen limited the Marlins to two runs on six hits over the final 11 innings.
Both starting pitchers were gone hours before the conclusion.
Marlins right-hander Trevor Richards overcame a slow start to get through five innings in a 4-4 tie. He allowed four runs and nine hits in his five innings, striking out five without issuing a walk.
Tampa Bay scored twice in each of the first two innings to go up 4-0. Ramos' two-out, two-run homer in the first, his 12th of the season, got the Rays rolling.
Doubles by Robertson and Adeiny Hechavarria leading off the second increased the Rays' lead, before Mallex Smith's RBI single made it 4-0.
Richards aided in Miami's early comeback with his second major league hit, a two-run single in the second inning after the Rays had walked Lewis Brinson to load the bases with two outs. The two runs got the Marlins within 4-2.
Rays left-hander Ryan Yarbrough left after three innings, allowing two runs and four hits. He walked one and struck out three.
He exited with a two-run lead, but Miami rallied into a 4-4 tie in the fifth against Austin Pruitt on an RBI single by Brian Anderson and game-tying sacrifice fly by J.T. Realmuto.
Hechavarria and Robertson had three hits apiece for the Rays, who have won nine of their last 11 games.
Duffy, Ramos, Smith, Bauers and Nuno added two hits each to the 20-hit attack.
Justin Bour collected three hits, while Miguel Rojas, Starlin Castro and Derek Dietrich had two apiece for the Marlins, who totaled 15 hits while losing for the fifth time in nine tries on their 10-game homestand.
--Field Level Media