ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays won Tuesday’s game in the bottom of the 10th inning when Taylor Walls hit a three-run walkoff home run off the rightfield foul pole with two outs, beating the Cardinals 4-2.
But they were headed in that direction from the end of the top of the inning, when centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier made an impressive throw to the plate for the final out, nabbing Paul Goldschmidt trying to score from second on a single by Harrison Bader.
Properly motivated, they promptly rallied. With Kiermaier the runner on second to start the inning, Isaac Paredes drew a walk. A sac bunt attempt by Brett Phillips didn’t help, as the Cardinals got the out at third. Yandy Diaz, pinch-hitting for Francisco Mejia, popped up. On a 2-2 count, Walls lined a Drew VerHagen pitch off the pole, setting off a celebration on the field.
The Cardinals took the lead in the 10th off lefty Colin Poche.
Goldschmidt reached when he grounded a ball up the middle and second baseman Vidal Brujan threw wide trying to make a play at third on the Tommy Edman, who started the inning as the runner on second.
Poche then hit Nolan Arenado to load the bases, and Lars Nootbaar’s sac fly to right gave them the 2-1 lead. Poche struck out Tyler O’Neill then gave up the single to Bader, but Kiermaier’s strike to the plate kept the Cards from adding on.
The game had been scoreless until the home seventh.
The Rays managed just one hit through six innings, a first-inning double by Ji-Man Choi, off St. Louis starter Dakota Hudson. They grabbed a 1-0 in the seventh, though it wasn’t much of a breakout.
Margot’s doubled to left-center, then went to third on an infield grounder by Kiermaier, scoring on a sac fly to deep center by Paredes.
Blanked over six innings by Rays starter Jeffrey Springs and a seventh by Matt Wisler, the Cardinals evened the score in the eighth.
Andrew Kittredge, who returned Sunday from the injured list, got two outs, then walked Nootbaar, who was pinch-hitting for Albert Pujols, much to the dismay of much of the announced crowd of 10,905.
Tyler O’Neill, who just returned from the injured list, singled to center to move Nootbaar up. Then Harrison Bader, a former University of Florida standout, followed with a single to right that scored the tying run.
Springs did his job, again, working six shutout innings, scattering six hits. That included a fourth-inning single by Pujols that was the 3,320th hit of his career, moving him past Paul Molitor and into ninth place all-time.
Since moving into the Rays rotation May 9, Springs has made six starts, allowing only seven earned runs, for a 2.01 ERA, striking out 31 in 31 1/3 innings while walking seven.
Offense has been an issue for the Rays, who in their last 12 games have scored a total of 35 runs. Tuesday was the seventh time they have scored three or fewer and the eighth time they have been held homerless.
