Jose Caballero led the Tampa Bay offense with three hits and the bullpen had an unusually effective performance in the Rays’ 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday in Anaheim, Calif.
Caballero had two singles, a double, two runs, two RBIs and a stolen base, but it was the performance of the Rays’ relievers that was notable, considering Tampa Bay entered the game with the worst bullpen ERA (7.36) in the majors.
Phil Maton (sixth inning), Colin Poche (seventh), Jason Adam (eighth) and Pete Fairbanks (ninth) combined to limit the Angels to one run and three hits over the final four frames.
The only run the Angels scored against the Tampa Bay bullpen came on Luis Rengifo’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth. Anthony Rendon followed with a walk to bring the winning run to the plate, but Fairbanks struck out pinch hitter Miguel Sano to earn his first save of the season.
The Rays had 12 hits in all, including a home run by Isaac Paredes.
Mike Trout homered for the Angels, his sixth of the season, tied for the major league lead.
The Angels took an early lead with two runs in the first inning against Rays starter Aaron Civale (2-1). Mickey Moniak singled with one out and scored on Trout’s two-run homer.
However, Angels starter Patrick Sandoval (1-2) gave back two runs in the top of the second inning, with the Rays getting some help from the replay crew.
Curtis Mead led off with a walk and attempted to score on a double to left-center by Jose Siri. Trout fielded the ball off the wall and threw to the shortstop Rengifo, whose perfect throw to catcher Logan O’Hoppe appeared to nail Mead.
The Rays challenged the call, and replays showed Mead was able to get his hand on the plate before O’Hoppe applied the tag, so the call was reversed. Tampa Bay added a second run in the inning on an RBI single by Caballero.
The Rays took a 4-2 lead in the fourth inning, with some assistance from the Angels’ defense. Caballero hit a tiebreaking RBI double, and he was still on second two outs later.
Harold Ramirez hit a popup down the first base line, and right fielder Moniak appeared to overrun the ball and was unable to make the catch. Caballero scored on what was ruled a single by Ramirez.
The Angels got one run back in the bottom of the inning, Brandon Drury hitting a double and scoring on the shortstop Caballero’s fielding error, cutting the deficit to 4-3.
The Rays added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, on a solo homer by Paredes and on a two-out, RBI single by Ramirez.
Civale allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts in five innings. Sandoval yielded four runs on six hits in five innings. He fanned six and walked three.
–Field Level Media
