Rays wait through delay but make it worth it with a walk-off win

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on May 10, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — The novelty angle to Saturday’s game was the weather delays — one that pushed back the start and another during the fifth inning — that were billed as the first for home games in franchise history.

The more important storyline was the dramatic way the Rays won, especially after it looked like they were headed toward a loss.

Travis Jankowski, a recent acquisition to provide outfield depth, singled with two outs in the ninth to score Kameron Misner, who drew a one-out walk and stole second base. Any chance for a play at the plate was lost when left fielder Isaac Collins misplayed the ball.

Junior Caminero led off the inning with an infield single, but pinch-runner Jose Caballero was caught stealing.

The win was the Rays’ second straight, improving their record to 18-21.

In the top of the ninth, one-out errors by third baseman Caminero (throwing) and first baseman Jonathan Aranda (fielding) plus a walk loaded the bases with Brewers. But closer Pete Fairbanks got the Rays out of it, retiring Sal Frelick and and Caleb Durbin.

Neither team got a baserunner on after play resumed in the fifth until Caminero’s error.

The game was historic before it even started, given a 27-minute delay due to the threat of storms that the Rays — playing this season outdoors at Steinbrenner Field due to hurricane damage to their usual domed home — called their “first official weather delay” for a home game.

Then there was another delay, during which it actually did rain, for 38 minutes in the bottom of the fifth.

Milwaukee took the lead with a two-out homer in the third by Jackson Chourio off Tampa Bay starter Taj Bradley.

The Rays went ahead with two runs in the fourth, with Taylor Walls delivering the big hit. Aranda led off with a single against Brewers starter Tobias Myers, a former Rays minor leaguer who has the distinction of being acquired in trade for Tim Beckham and shipped out for Caminero.

After Misner walked with one out, Walls — who drew a bases-loaded walk that put the Rays ahead in the eighth inning Friday — laced a double to right. Aranda scored and Misner went to third, later scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jankowski.

Bradley, though, gave the lead right back, allowing a two-out, two-strike homer to No. 9 hitter Joey Ortiz in the fifth.

Bradley sat out for nearly an hour, as the Rays were hitting before the second rain delay, but came back and set the Brewers down quickly in the sixth, needing just nine pitches.

For the day, he allowed the two runs, four hits and a walk while striking out five, with 59 of his 84 pitches for strikes.