TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Travis Jankowski had a pair of hits including the winning RBI single in the ninth inning in Tampa Bay’s 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday after the first home field weather delays in Rays teams history.
Jankowski singled off closer Trevor Megill to bring home rookie Kameron Misner, who was walked by Grant Anderson (1-2) and stole second.
The hit might have produced a close play at the plate but the ball snuck under the glove of left fielder Isaac Collins. Misner scored two of Tampa Bay’s three runs.
A journeyman who spent spring training with both the Cubs and White Sox before the Rays acquired him last month, Jankowski also gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.
Pete Fairbanks (3-1) pitched the ninth.
Jackson Chourio put Milwaukee on the board with a first-pitch solo homer off Taj Bradley in the third. In the fifth, Joey Ortiz snuck a solo homer inside the right-field foul pole, his first home run since Sept. 20.
Key moment
Following a 38-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fifth, pitchers from both teams combined to retire 19 straight until the Brewers’ ninth, when consecutive batters reached on errors. After Fairbanks walked Rhys Hoskins to load the bases, Fairbanks got a popup and flyout to preserve the tie.
Key stat
Precipitation delayed the first pitch by 27 minutes, the first home rain delay in Tampa Bay’s 28-year franchise history. The skies opened again in the bottom of the fifth. The Rays are temporarily playing at Steinbrenner Field after Hurricane Milton shredded Tropicana Field’s roof in October.
Fans were given free ponchos to mark the occasion.
Up next
In the series finale on Sunday, Chad Patrick (2-3, 3.08 ERA) starts for Milwaukee against Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen (1-3, 3.09).
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
