Major League Baseball
Washington 9, Tampa Bay 7
When: 7:10 PM ET, Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Ryan Wills, 1B - Manny Gonzalez, 2B - Jeff Nelson, 3B - Lazaro Diaz
Attendance: 7616

Starlin Castro's RBI double and Josh Harrison's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning provided the decisive runs in the Washington Nationals' 9-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Ryan Zimmerman hit two home runs and drove in three runs as the Nationals split the two-game series while snapping their three-game losing streak and ending the Rays' three-game winning streak.

Tampa Bay lost for only the fifth time in its past 25 games and second time in its past 11 home games.

The Rays rallied from two-run deficits three times, with Randy Arozarena fueling two of those comebacks. Arozarena, who went 3 for 5 with three RBIs, led off the bottom of the 10th with a triple that scored Austin Meadows to cut the Rays' deficit to 7-6.

Joey Wendle, who tied the game at 5 with a pinch-hit solo home run off Nationals reliever Daniel Hudson in the eighth, then tied the game at 7 with an RBI single off Brad Hand (3-2).

But in the 11th, Castro hit the first pitch he saw from Diego Castillo (2-3) off the left field wall, driving in pinch runner Jordy Mercer from second.

Earlier, Zimmerman tied the game at 3 with a solo homer to right field in the top of the third off Rays rookie starter Shane McClanahan.

Juan Soto, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning, drew a walk to lead off the top of the fifth. Zimmerman followed with a 393-foot homer off Rays reliever Jeffrey Springs to give Washington a 5-3 lead.

Zimmerman, who has eight home runs this season, recorded his first multi-homer game since April 21, 2019.

Tanner Rainey picked up his first save of the season after working around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 11th. He struck out two.

Castro and Victor Robles each went 2 for 5. The Rays' Taylor Walls hit his first career home run in the bottom of the seventh.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Washington   Tampa Bay
Patrick Corbin Player Shane McClanahan
No Decision W/L No Decision
5.0 IP 3.0
3 Strikeouts 4
3 Hits 5
5.40 ERA 9.00
Hitting
Washington   Tampa Bay
Ryan Zimmerman Player Randy Arozarena
2 Hits 3
3 RBI 3
2 HR 0
8 TB 5
.500 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Washington 10 3 22 .244 17 18 9 5 1 1
Tampa Bay 8 2 16 .200 22 13 7 7 3 1