ARLINGTON -- The Rays put themselves in a position to win Tuesday's game because of a lock-down bullpen that has been the team's most potent weapon for weeks. But they were given a huge assist by the Rangers' defense in Tampa Bay’s 5-3 victory in 11 innings at Globe Life Park.\n\nThe game was knotted at 3 until the Rays broke out in the 11th -- not so much because of timely hitting, though
Aggressive baserunning and hustle made the difference in the decisive 11th inning. With two outs and Nate Lowe at first,
From manager Kevin Cash’s perspective, Adames’ mad sprint out of the batter’s box enabled the entire inning to unfold the way it did.\n\n“We ask a lot, but effort is at the top,” Cash said. “Give us the effort to get down the line. Our guys have been tremendous at that. All year, you can count on one hand where it wasn't there. Willy's at the top. He knew how important it was to get there. You can smell a hit -- Willy does it all the time.”\n\nThe game was tied at 3 in the eighth inning after
As a unit, Rays relievers have posted a 1.82 ERA over their past 11 games, allowing 11 earned runs over 54 1/3 innings.\n\nFor Anderson, the formula is simple.\n\n“We always joke around, ‘Hey, if you don’t let the other team score, we're probably going to win,’” he said. “I think everybody takes that pretty seriously. All the pitchers -- the bullpen, the starting pitchers -- that's obviously what you’re trying to do, put up zeros. It's hard to lose when you put up zeros. To have everything go the way it is, and everyone throwing as strong as we are, we're in a good spot.”\n\n**Garcia exits early** \n