Corey Seager hit a pair of two-run doubles, including the go-ahead hit in the seventh inning, as the Los Angeles Dodgers put together a 7-5 victory Tuesday over the visiting Tampa Bay Rays, whose wild-card advantage narrowed.
Seager hit a ground-rule double to score a pair of runs in the fifth inning and hit a ball into left-center to bring home the first two runs in a five-run seventh. He has 18 RBIs in his past 13 games.
The Rays saw their hold on the second wild card in the American League shrink to one-half game over the Cleveland Indians. The Oakland Athletics lead the AL wild-card standings, two games ahead of Tampa Bay.
The Dodgers won while making a late change to their pitching plan. Right-hander Ross Stripling was scheduled to start but came on in the fourth instead to pitch two innings as Los Angeles worked on a strategy they might use in the playoffs.
The Dodgers used eight pitchers with Kenta Maeda (10-8) earning the victory and Kenley Jansen getting the last four outs for his 30th save. Peter Fairbanks (1-3) took the loss for Tampa Bay.
Not all was bad for the Rays, who saw left-hander Blake Snell return from arthroscopic surgery on his left elbow. Snell, who pitched for the first time since July 21, had four strikeouts over two hitless innings.
The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the second inning without the aid of a hit. Joey Wendle walked, stole second, went to third on a Caleb Ferguson balk and scored on a sacrifice fly from Willy Adames.
Seager's first two-run double for a 2-1 lead was the Dodgers' first hit of the game and came just before the Rays tied it in the sixth on a solo home run from Ji-Man Choi, his 16th.
The second Dodgers hit didn't come until the seventh when Enrique Hernandez doubled. Seager followed with his second-two run double for a 4-2 lead. The Dodgers added insurance runs in the seventh on RBI hits from Gavin Lux, A.J. Pollock and Cody Bellinger.
In the eighth inning, the Rays' Austin Meadows extended his hit streak to 15 games with a double, while Jesus Aguilar hit a two-run home run, his 12th.
--Field Level Media
Tampa Bay | LA Dodgers | |
Blake Snell | Player | Caleb Ferguson |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
2.0 | IP | 1.2 |
4 | Strikeouts | 1 |
0 | Hits | 0 |
0.00 | ERA | 5.40 |
Tampa Bay | LA Dodgers | |
Jesus Aguilar | Player | Corey Seager |
1 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 4 |
1 | HR | 0 |
4 | TB | 4 |
1.000 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Tampa Bay | 6 | 2 | 13 | .182 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
LA Dodgers | 6 | 0 | 10 | .194 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 |