By Rays Dramatically Sweep Padres, Showing Again Why This Team Is Built for October
By Ken Filler | Tampa Bay Sports Journal
ST. PETERSBURG — There are sweeps, and then there are weekends that tell you something about a baseball team.
What the Tampa Bay Rays did to the San Diego Padres this weekend falls into the second category.
The Rays completed a three-game sweep of San Diego with a dramatic 5–4, 11-inning win Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field, finishing a weekend in which Tampa Bay won three completely different baseball games.
Friday was about offense.
Saturday was about coming from behind.
Sunday was about simply refusing to lose.
And as we get ready to turn the calendar to September, that might be the biggest takeaway.
These Rays are beginning to look like a team built for October.
Rays Find Another Way to Win Sunday
For much of Sunday afternoon, it appeared Tampa Bay’s bid for a sweep would come up short.
San Diego took a 2–0 lead against Drew Rasmussen in the fourth inning before Junior Caminero answered with his 37th home run of the season.
The Padres eventually stretched the lead to 3–1, and Tampa Bay still trailed by two heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Then came Jonny DeLuca.
Facing one of baseball’s hardest throwers in Mason Miller, DeLuca somehow got enough of a pitch to send it over the wall for a game-tying two-run homer.
Suddenly, it was 3–3.
The Padres regained the lead in the top of the 11th on a Ty France sacrifice fly, but once again, the Rays weren’t finished.
DeLuca helped tie the game at 4–4 before Jorge Mateo delivered the winning run, completing the comeback and the sweep.
Three games. Three wins.
And three very different paths to getting there.
The weekend started with Tampa Bay making a little history.
The Rays beat San Diego 9–4 Friday night to become the first American League team to reach 80 victories.
Yandy Díaz set the tone again.
Díaz went 2-for-5 with his 20th home run and two RBIs. The homer was the 120th of his career, moving him into fifth place on the Rays’ all-time home run list.
The Rays blew the game open in the fourth inning with five runs, taking advantage of San Diego mistakes and doing what good teams do: make the opponent pay.
Shane McClanahan wasn’t nearly as dominant as he had been in his previous start in Baltimore, but he battled through 5⅔ innings, allowed four runs — three earned — and picked up his 10th victory.
That’s another encouraging development for the Rays.
McClanahan doesn’t have to be perfect every night.
When this offense is clicking, he has to keep the Rays in the game.
Saturday May Have Been the Most Impressive Win
If Friday showed Tampa Bay can overwhelm an opponent, Saturday showed something even more important.
San Diego scored three times in the top of the seventh to take a 6–3 lead.
A frustrating loss appeared to be developing.
Instead, Tampa Bay answered immediately.
Richie Palacios walked, Cedric Mullins singled, and Taylor Walls singled to load the bases for Díaz.
Díaz ripped a ball off the center-field wall at 108.9 mph.
Combined with a San Diego throwing error, three runs scored, and suddenly the game was tied.
Then Chandler Simpson delivered the go-ahead RBI single.
Rays manager Kevin Cash summed it up perfectly afterward.
“Big win; it was becoming chances of being a frustrating loss,” Cash said. “Our backs [were] kind of against the wall, but the guys stayed at it.”
That has become one of this Rays team’s defining characteristics.
They stay at it.
Cash also called it the sign of “a pretty good offense and a team that understands.”
This isn’t simply a lineup waiting around for Caminero or Díaz to hit a three-run homer.
The Rays can beat you with power and speed. They can manufacture runs. They can capitalize on mistakes.
And they are becoming increasingly comfortable playing from behind.
Caminero’s Power Continues to Change Games
We also need to talk about Junior Caminero.
Caminero homered Saturday, then homered Sunday again.
That’s 37 home runs.
There aren’t many hitters in baseball capable of changing a game with one swing the way Caminero can.
Díaz keeps getting on base and producing.
Jonathan Aranda provides another dangerous left-handed bat.
Simpson creates chaos with his speed.
DeLuca delivered one of the biggest swings of the season Sunday.
That is becoming a difficult lineup to navigate, especially late in games.
This Weekend Felt Different. Maybe it’s because September is almost here.
Maybe it’s because the postseason is becoming less of a possibility and more of an expectation.
But this weekend felt different.
San Diego isn’t some rebuilding club simply playing out the schedule. The Padres came to Tropicana Field fighting for their own postseason position.
The Rays swept them anyway.
And the Rays didn’t need the same formula every night. Friday they scored nine.
Saturday they erased a three-run seventh-inning deficit.
Sunday they were down to their final three outs, tied the game, fell behind again in extra innings, and came back again.
That is winning baseball.
More importantly, that’s October baseball.
Because once the postseason begins, you’re not going to score nine runs every night.
Sometimes your starting pitcher won’t have his best stuff.
You sometimes will trail in the seventh inning.
Sometimes you’re going to face a pitcher throwing 100 mph in the ninth with your season potentially hanging in the balance.
Good teams find a way. And the Rays found three different ways to win this weekend.
Championship-caliber teams believe they’re going to find a way.
The Rays are starting to give off that kind of feeling.
There is still plenty of baseball remaining, and nobody should start planning a parade route. Yet.
But the Rays are entering September exactly where they want to be, sitting atop the American League East and playing meaningful baseball with a roster that has shown it can win in just about every imaginable way.
And most importantly, they showed the ability to win games that easily could have gone the other way.
The Rays have spent much of this season proving they belong among the best teams in the American League.
After this weekend, the conversation may be changing.
It’s no longer just whether the Rays can get to the postseason.
It’s becoming a question of just how dangerous they could be once they get there.
