OAKLAND, Calif.—Jose Siri hit a late go-ahead home run for the second straight game, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Oakland Athletics 4–2 on Wednesday night.
Siri said that his homer on Tuesday helped him find his rhythm.
“When you connect with a ball like that, it gives you confidence,” Siri said through an interpreter. “It gives you a better idea of what you want to do at the plate the next at-bats after that.”
The Rays have won five of their past six games, while the A’s lost consecutive games for just the second time since the All-Star break.
“He’s a special player,” Tampa Bay Manager Kevin Cash said of Siri. “We know ... what he’s capable of doing. It’s pretty consistent defensively and the hitting is pretty streaky, but when he gets timed up at the plate, he can hit a ball a long way and really generate a lot of power. And we’re seeing it both nights.”
Rays starter Ryan Pepiot (7–5), who celebrated his 27th birthday on Wednesday, allowed two runs on three hits in six innings, making his second start since returning from a stint on the injured list following a spider bite and knee infection that led to a hospital stay. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven straight starts.
Manuel Rodríguez recorded his first save of the season, and Drew Rasmussen struck out Oakland’s Brent Rooker with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning.
Tampa Bay scored twice in the fifth, taking the lead on a two-out RBI double by Yandy Díaz. Díaz knocked in Jonny DeLuca, who stole second after reaching on a fielder’s choice groundout that tied the game. José Caballero and Siri led off the inning with hits.
Tempers flared in the Rays’ dugout late in the game, with Díaz and Caballero having to be separated. Cash said that players are passionate with the team sitting six and a half games out of a playoff spot.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys that are really competing and want things to go perfectly, and sometimes they don’t,” Cash said. “It seemed like there was a little friction, but I’m very confident we’ll move on from it and be ready to go.”
Caballero echoed his manager’s comments, admitting the team is “in a bad stretch.”
“We’re not doing the best right now,“ Caballero said. ”I wish we would be in a playoff position, and maybe that could be one of the things that got us. Just trying to be competitors out there, and emotions got us.”
JJ Bleday gave the A’s an early lead with a solo homer in the first, and Rooker hit an RBI single in the sixth to tie the game at 2–2.
A’s starter Mitch Spence (7–9) allowed four runs in seven innings and had a career-high 10 strikeouts before an announced crowd of 10,339 at the Coliseum. Spence, who also threw a career-high 105 pitches, was focused on looking “at the positives,” but lamented hanging a slider to Siri.
“He was throwing the ball so well,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He made one bad pitch to Siri. Again, this is the same guy who beat us last night on a bad pitch. To get beat two nights in a row doesn’t feel great, but our starters have done a great job.”
