TAMPA -- Jake Mangum provided the hustle. Jonathan Aranda delivered the heads-up baserunning. And on what turned out to be the game-winning play in their 5-4 win over the Rangers on Wednesday night, the Rays showed another way their lineup seems to be firing on all cylinders.
Mangum came to the plate against Texas starter Kumar Rocker with runners on second and third and two outs in the third. He hit a chopper to the right of the mound, drawing first baseman Jake Burger over to make the play. But Mangum hustled down the line, as he always does, and beat Rocker to the bag.
That allowed Yandy Díaz to score, but the play was not over. While Rocker walked into the outfield and stared off into the distance, Aranda dashed home to score another run that put the Rays ahead, 5-0. It turned out to be the difference in the game.
“Impressed that Jonny didn't quit on the play or put his head down,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Very heads-up.”
“That,” Mangum added, “was a big one.”
The Rays have won 11 of their last 14 games, with a plus-56 run differential during that span, to move to a season-high-tying three games above .500 at 32-29. And while their pitching has been superb, permitting four runs or fewer in 15 straight games, their lineup has also played a huge part.
The Rays have scored 84 runs during this 14-game stretch, an average of six runs per game. They’ve done so with a balanced, dynamic attack that has produced 23 home runs and 25 stolen bases.
Their versatility was evident as they clinched their fifth straight series victory at George M. Steinbrenner Field, where they have won nine of their last 10 games.
“I think it's more just the plethora of good at-bats we're having. I don't think anybody's up there trying to do too much,” said Brandon Lowe, who finished a triple shy of the cycle. “Get up there, throw a good swing on it, because each guy is swinging the bat well. It's an easy game when you can just pass the baton.”
They scored runs in several different ways in this game.
They hit a home run, as Lowe blasted his 12th of the season off the batter’s eye in the first inning to put the Rays ahead.
They strung together hits, with four straight in the third inning. Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe hit back-to-back doubles to drive in one run, then consecutive singles by Díaz and Aranda made it a three-run game.
“I've said it all year: We have a very good baseball team,” Mangum said. “We've got a lot of guys that can help us win a ballgame any night. It's a lot of fun to play with these guys.”
Then came a lot of hustle from Mangum and a little bit of savvy baserunning from Aranda, with an assist from third-base coach Brady Williams.
“I got to third, and I'm always paying attention to what the play is developing into,” Aranda said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “I was in between, and when I saw that [Rocker] kept walking, and then the coach told me to go … that's why I went.”
Brandon Lowe praised Aranda for not shutting it down after he jogged to third, as some players might on a play like that. As Rocker began traipsing away from the play, Aranda was on his way home.
“I think maybe because he saw that we were scoring runs, his head was out of the game,” Aranda said. “And I took advantage of that.”
Still, the Rangers made it close. Cash noted that it felt like the Rays needed to keep adding on runs, but Texas’ bullpen didn’t cooperate.
Starter Shane Baz gave up three runs in the fifth after cruising through the first four innings, saying he thought Wednesday night was “as good as I've thrown the ball this year.”
The Rangers capitalized on Brandon Lowe’s two-out error to make it a one-run game in the ninth. But the bullpen came through with a quartet of strong performances by Manuel Rodríguez, Mason Montgomery, Edwin Uceta and closer Pete Fairbanks, who picked up his 11th save of the season.
“Their bullpen came in and did a good job. But early on, you've got to take everything you can get,” Cash said. “That's putting a lot of pressure on the bullpen to come in and cover basically four innings the way they did, but they did a tremendous job.”