ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A lot has been going wrong for the Rays lately.
Saturday they looked to be done in again, this time by a ball that struck a catwalk and what seemed to be a sound decision on changing pitchers that turned out badly, leaving them down one run going into the ninth inning.
But they rallied for a 6-5 win with help from Pirates closer David Bednar. Ji-Man Choi and Vidal Brujan drew two-out walks, then rookie Jonathan Aranda, pinch hitting, grounded a ball that Bednar knocked down but couldn’t glove, loading the bases.
Isaac Paredes, who homered earlier in the game, then laced a single to right field that scored two for a second straight walk-off win.
“He’s had a special couple games here and picking us up in a big way,” manager Kevin Cash said of Paredes.
Starter Corey Kluber was lifted after getting the first out of the sixth inning, having thrown only 63 pitches, but ahead of a stretch of three straight Pirates lefties and six of seven overall.
The move by manager Kevin Cash to go to lefty Jalen Beeks made sense statistically. Beeks to that point had faced 28 lefty hitters and allowed only four hits and three walks, striking out 12.
It also failed miserably, though with a little bad luck involved.
Beeks walked his first batter, Dan Vogelbach. The second, Bligh Madris, hit a fly ball to right that looked routine until it struck the B-ring catwalk in fair territory and dropped in in front of Josh Lowe for a single.
What made that all worse is that Pirates rookie Jack Suwinski crushed a 2-0 fastball — 443 feet at 112.4 mph — for a three-run homer and a 5-3 lead.
The Rays got to within 5-4 in the eighth when Paredes homered — his team-high 10th, and all in his last 25 games dating to May 18.
“This week has been like a dream come true,” said Paredes, via team interpreter Manny Navarro.
The Rays had been in a rough stretch, going into play Saturday having lost seven of their previous 10. And over the last month they plummeted in the standings, from 4 1/2 games out in second place as recently as May 25, to fourth place and as many as 14 1/2 out this past week.
A major reason for the decline has been a lack of offense. Since late May they rank in the bottom four in the majors in runs per game, average, on-base and slugging percentages.
And they have played a team-record 11 straight games decided by two or one runs, losing seven.
The Rays got off to a quick start against Pirates right-hander J.T. Brubaker in Saturday’s matinee without hitting the ball overly hard.
Taylor Walls, batting leadoff for the first time in the majors, led off with a single and went to second on a ground out. Randy Arozarena reached on an infield single with a grounder to third. They both moved up on a hard grounder to first by Choi that Michael Chavis didn’t handle cleanly and could only get the out at first.
Brujan then made it count, blooping a single to shallow center that scored both.
In an overall solid start, Kluber gave up the lead quickly in the third. He allowed a homer to Diego Castillo on his second pitch, then a single to ex-Ray Michael Perez, who moved to second on a bunt and scored on a two-out single by Brian Reynolds.
The Rays went back on top with a run in the fifth as Josh Lowe, who has been hitting the ball hard, doubled and Arozarena, who had four hits on the day, followed with a run-scoring drive up the middle and hustled his way to second. Arozarena, though, was picked off second and thus couldn’t score when Choi followed with a single.
The Rays then let the lead get away again.
Kluber went into the game feeling pretty good about how he had been pitching.
“I think I’m getting there,” he said. “I think I always feel like there’s something I can improve on. I guess my mindset, I’m going to pay more attention to stuff I feel like I can work on than maybe stuff that I feel like is where I want it to be. But, yeah, I do feel like things are starting to get ironed more each time out there.”
