ST. PETERSBURG — A 65.7 mph popup that barely cleared the infield gave the Tampa Bay Rays their third walk-off win of their final regular-season homestand Saturday, a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field that pushed Tampa Bay’s American League East lead to five games with eight left to play.
Second baseman Richie Palacios dropped a shallow single into right field in the ninth inning with two outs and the game tied, scoring Junior Caminero from third to end the Rays’ 0-for-33 skid with runners in scoring position against the Red Sox. The win was Tampa Bay’s seventh in its last eight games and moved the club one step closer to its first AL East title since 2021.
“Just praying it drops. That’s all you’re doing,” Palacios said. “You’re just praying it drops, and it did.”
The victory before a crowd of 27,402 was the Rays’ AL-leading 39th come-from-behind win of the season. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Tampa Bay had not recorded three walk-off wins in a single homestand since Sept. 20-25, 2019. Caminero, who ended each of the Rays’ previous two walk-off wins with home runs, scored the decisive run Saturday after reaching on a single and advancing on a passed ball.
“We’re just relentless. No matter what’s going on in the game, we always feel like we have a chance to win,” Palacios said after his second career walk-off hit. “Three walk-offs is amazing, and we’re just going to continue to do what we do.”
Palacios, who has slashed .297/.395/.730 with five homers and 14 RBIs this month, ranks fourth on the Rays with 53 RBIs on the season, behind Caminero (97), Jonathan Aranda (92) and Yandy Díaz (81). Twenty-eight of his 53 RBIs have come with two outs, and no Rays player has driven in more runs than Palacios’ 24 with two outs and runners in scoring position.
“I don’t put extra pressure on it,” Palacios said. “I just have the same approach that I usually do, and then sometimes it’s not going to work out — and today it did.”
Starter Freddy Peralta held Boston to one run in 5 2/3 innings, averaging 96.4 mph on his fastball — up 2.2 mph from his season-long mark. Since Aug. 26, Peralta has posted a 0.94 ERA and 0.70 WHIP across five starts. Aranda tied the game with a solo home run off Brayan Bello in the fourth inning, and relievers Kevin Kelly, Cam Booser, Cole Sulser and Bryan Baker kept it there through the ninth.
“It’s very encouraging. It’s a good feeling,” manager Kevin Cash said. “You want to get as many reps at that as possible, because we know the games that we’re going to continue playing this year are going to be against good teams and in tight ballgames.”
“All these games matter a ton, and we’ve done a really good job of just staying true to ourselves and meeting the moment,” Caminero said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “We’ve done a really good job, and hopefully we close things out here soon.”
The Rays travel to Yankee Stadium next week for what could serve as a division-clinching series, with New York now five games back in the AL East standings.