TAMPA -- It was after the third inning, Brandon Lowe said, when he and Josh Lowe realized the Rays might have something special in store Wednesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Halfway through the second inning, the Rays found themselves in an eight-run hole and counting on their bullpen to cover 23 outs after Taj Bradley made their shortest traditional start in nearly three years. They had a chance to come back right away, only to leave the bases loaded.
Then the Rays scored three runs in the third and forced Orioles starter Trevor Rogers out of the game. They still had a long way to go, but they had a gut feeling.
“Just one of those things,” Brandon Lowe said. “We're like, 'All right, we're gonna get back in this ballgame. We better stay ready to go.'”
By the time the fifth inning was over, the Rays had erased their deficit and tied the game on Brandon Lowe’s pinch-hit, two-run homer. In the seventh, they pulled ahead on an RBI single by Junior Caminero and tacked on three more runs on hits by Josh Lowe and Jonathan Aranda.
And when Pete Fairbanks nailed down the final out, incredibly in a non-save situation, they had matched the largest comeback victory in franchise history -- and recorded the biggest come-from-behind triumph in the Majors this season -- with a 12-8 win over the Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
“In my opinion,” veteran first baseman Yandy Díaz said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez, “that's the best game that we've had this season.”
Brandon Lowe has been with the Rays since 2018, and he said the improbable win was “definitely up there” on his list. Manager Kevin Cash was similarly stunned.
“Pretty amazing. I don't know if I have the words,” Cash said. “I'm really impressed with them, proud of them. They stayed at it.”
Twice before, the Rays had come back to win after trailing by eight runs. They did it most recently on August 18, 2012 against the Angels; they won that game, 10-8, erasing an 8-0 deficit in the fifth. They also accomplished the feat against the Blue Jays on July 25, 2009, winning that game 10-9 in 12 innings after trailing 9-1.
And this one continued an incredible run for the Rays, who have won 20 of their past 27 games to pull within 1 1/2 games of the Yankees for the top spot in the American League East.
“I think right now we are the best team in MLB,” Díaz said, “and a victory like that gives us way more confidence.”
Wins like that don’t happen without contributions from all corners of the clubhouse.
It took a nearly perfect performance from Tampa Bay’s bullpen.
Relievers Kevin Kelly, Edwin Uceta, Garrett Cleavinger, Mason Montgomery, Forrest Whitley and Fairbanks combined to allow just one hit (a three-run homer by Ramón Laureano, the first batter Kelly faced) and one other baserunner after Bradley’s 47-pitch, four-out start, the shortest outing by a traditional Tampa Bay starter since Luis Patiño recorded four outs at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 11, 2022.
“It's a tough start for us, but each guy that came in, you know you have a job to do: Keep it right there. Give our guys a chance,” said Cleavinger, who worked two innings. “The way we've been swinging it lately, we can go put up some runs with the best of them.”
As remarkable as the offensive comeback was, the bullpen’s resilience made it all possible.
And it took a remarkable comeback by a relentless Rays lineup. Ten different players recorded at least one hit, with Curtis Mead (two hits, two runs) giving way to Brandon Lowe (game-tying homer, two runs) and Christopher Morel (two hits) subbing out for Josh Lowe (RBI single, run).
“From first to ninth, everybody did their job,” Díaz said. “Even the guys that came from the bench, everybody chipped in, and we were able to get the game.”
In the fifth, Taylor Walls tripled in José Caballero and Díaz added an RBI single to make it a two-run game. Then Cash summoned Brandon Lowe off the bench to face righty reliever Yennier Cano, the matchup they’d been looking for. Lowe blasted a full-count fastball out to right-center field, and the Rays’ climb out of their eight-run hole was complete.
Two innings later, the top of the lineup strung together a two-out rally against former Ray Andrew Kittredge to pull ahead. After sliding home to score the go-ahead run on Caminero’s single up the middle, Díaz stood up and smiled.
This one meant a little more.
“Big picture, it's a single game,” Brandon Lowe said. “But the way that the game was won, the way that it was played, the at-bats that were put together, the bullpen that came through -- I mean, it's hard to quantify just what this can do for a team.”