NEW YORK -- One thing can be said about the 2025 Rays. If they are behind by four runs or more, don’t expect them to lay down and die. Just ask their American League East rivals like the Yankees and Red Sox.
The Rays were at Citi Field on Friday night to play the Mets, who learned the hard way that they couldn’t keep Tampa Bay down. The Rays were down by four runs after five innings, but they came back on New York’s bullpen with a six-run sixth and won the game, 7-5.
After five innings, the Mets decided to take right-hander Clay Holmes out of the game in favor of Paul Blackburn, who faced five hitters and could get only one out. The biggest blow came when Jake Mangum singled to right-center field, scoring Brandon Lowe and Yandy Díaz to cut the deficit to two runs.
“The bases were loaded because everyone got on. I was happy to get a base hit there and get some runs across,” Mangum said.
For Mangum, the single was extra special because he was once a Mets farmhand and called Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez good friends. Mangum acknowledged he had dreams of playing at Citi Field -- but as a member of the Mets. Being a member of the Rays is just as good.
“After I got drafted, I spent four years with the Mets. [Citi Field] was the dream destination. So to get here and play a game here is really cool,” Mangum said. “It has a great atmosphere. It was really loud, really crowded and it was good to see some old friends on the other side.”
Right-hander Max Kranick replaced Blackburn and Tampa Bay took advantage by adding four more runs. Danny Jansen had the biggest hit of the night when he belted a tiebreaking two-run homer to give Tampa Bay a 7-5 lead.
“I was looking for a fastball and I think it was a cutter. I was trying to be on time with the fastball and I got the bat head up,” Jansen said.
In all, the Rays collected five singles, a run-scoring groundout and the game-deciding homer during their sixth-inning rally. That’s what you call passing the baton and playing winning baseball.
“It goes a long way to put balls in play. We put pressure on the defense when we pieced together a big inning and Danny had the final blow,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
The Mets had a chance to at least tie the score in the bottom of the seventh inning. They had the bases loaded with two outs, but reliever Edwin Uceta was able to get Ronny Mauricio to fly out to Mangum in left field to end the threat.
Uceta was still on the mound an inning later when the Mets again tried to mount a rally. With two outs and Alvarez on third, Juan Soto hit a ball to deep right field. Soto thought the ball was gone for his 14th homer, but Josh Lowe made a leaping grab near the wall for the final out of the inning.
“I didn’t get a great view, but I heard the fan reaction,” Jansen said. “The ball was obviously loud when Soto hit it. I was looking at the ball. I had my head down a little bit. So with the fans going crazy, I thought maybe [a home run]. But it was a great play by J. Lowe.”
Uceta is proving to be a valuable reliever for Tampa Bay. In his last seven outings, Uceta has allowed just two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts.
“He is building off something. We thought maybe his best outing came vs. Miami before we went on the road, and he has followed it up now with another good [outing],” Cash said.
The Rays didn’t play the cleanest game on defense. All five runs scored by New York were unearned because Tampa Bay made three errors in the game.
“I’m concerned because [making errors is not] our style of play,” Cash said. “We have a really good defense. Today, there were some uncharacteristic mishaps out there. It’s going to happen. We bunched them all in one game. … I’ll guess we’ll take it.”