Rays blow lead in 8th, then rally to beat Rangers in 10 on Aranda blast

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Sep 5, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Drew Rasmussen delivered a dominant outing for the Rays over seven innings on Saturday night.

Then things got interesting for Tampa Bay.

What had been a two-run lead disappeared in the eighth between some ineffective relief pitching and an apparent mix-up in communication between left fielder Chandler Simpson and center fielder Cedric Mullins that allowed the tying run to score, and the game went into extra innings.

The Rays took control in the 10th. After Taylor Walls bunted Jorge Mateo, the runner placed at second, up to third, the Texas Rangers had All-Star lefty Jacob Latz intentionally walk Yandy Diaz to face Jonathan Aranda with the benefit of a left-on-left matchup.

But Aranda, after falling behind in the count, foiled that strategy by lacing a three-run homer to right-center, leading the Rays to a 6-3 win, their second straight at Globe Life Field after dropping 10 in a row over three-plus seasons.

Tyler Wells stepped up again for ill closer Bryan Baker, getting the final six outs.

The Rays improved their American League-leading record to 85-57 and maintained at least a four-game East Division lead over the New York Yankees, who played late at the Padres.

The Rays also reduced their magic number to clinch a playoff spot, their first since 2023, to at least six, pending the results of later games.

Locked in an aces-high duel with two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom on Saturday, Rasmussen delivered a dominant seven-inning performance, allowing just a solo homer to Joc Pederson in the sixth.

The Rays didn’t get much off deGrom, but it was enough for an early lead.

With two outs in the first, Junior Caminero laced a 1-2 deGrom slider on a line over the centerfield fence for his 38th homer, most for now, anyway, in the American League, one ahead of Houston’s Yordan Alvarez.

With two outs in the fifth, Richie Palacios jumped on a 2-0 sinker and drove it into the right-field seats for his third homer in four games, extending his career high total for the season to eight.

The Rays added a third run with another encouraging rally with two outs in the eighth, when they strung together three straight singles from Aranda, Caminero and Liam Hicks.

Rasmussen retired the first 10 Rangers, allowing a one-out single in the fourth to Corey Seager. He also allowed a one-out single in the fifth to Jake Burger.

His only real mistake was a first-pitch curveball with one out in the sixth to Pederson, who belted it 409 feet and into the right-field seats at 106.3 mph off the bat.

Rasmussen allowed just the three hits while working a season-most-matching seven innings — giving him a new career major-league season high of 153 1/3 —while throwing 97 pitches, striking out seven and walking none.

Kevin Kelly took over in the eighth, threw a first-pitch ball to Evan Carter, then left a sinker up and Carter knocked it over the right-center field fence to cut the Tampa Bay lead to 3-2.

After Kelly allowed a one-out single to former Rays catcher Danny Jansen, manager Kevin Cash went to lefty Cam Booser to face Pederson. The Rangers pinch-hit Justin Foscue, and he laced a ground ball to left-center. Simpson and Mullins both raced toward the ball, but neither was able to cut it off, allowing pinch-runner Cam Cauley to score from first with the tying run.

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