TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 Taylor Walls hit a two-run single to second baseman Marcus Semien in the ninth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied to beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Junior Caminero, who homered off Jack Leiter in the second inning, had an RBI single against Robert Garcia (1-3) to pull the Rays to 3-2 earlier in the ninth. After Jake Mangum flied out for the second out, Christopher Morel singled to load the bases.<\/p>\n
Walls then hit a grounder to Semien, but no one was covering first base and Caminero came around to score from second for the winning run.<\/p>\n
It marked the second straight night the Rays won on a defensive miscue. On Wednesday night, Tampa Bay took advantage of Rangers pitcher Kumar Rocker forgetting to cover first base to score a run and then scored another when Rocker then held the ball as Jonathan Aranda scored from second.<\/p>\n
Semien had two solo homers and Jake Burger also went deep for the Rangers.<\/p>\n
Cole Sluser (3-1) picked up the win with a scoreless ninth inning for the Rays.<\/p>\n
Key Moment<\/p>\n
With two outs in the ninth, Morel singled on a ground ball to third baseman Josh Jung, who bobbled the ball with Morel racing to first to beat out the play and keep the inning going.<\/p>\n
Key Stat<\/p>\n
Ryan Pepiot allowed two runs and three hits over six innings. Burger\u2019s hoer in the third snapped Pepiot\u2019s 20-inning scoreless streak, the second-longest active streak in the majors behind teammate Drew Rasmussen\u2019s 23 innings. Pepiot also gave up a homer to Semien in the fifth.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Rays RHP Zack Littell (5-5, 3.86 ERA) stars against Marlins RHP Edward Cabrera (2-1, 4.14) in the teams\u2019 series opener on Friday in Tampa. Rangers RHP Patrick Corbin (3-4, 3.71) faces Nationals RHP Michael Soroka (2-3, 5.81) in the series opener at Washington.<\/p>\n
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