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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For much of the night, the outcome of the American League wild-card race seemed as if it would be decidedly different. The Yankees were battering the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Boston Red Sox were beating the Baltimore Orioles.
But a combination of a rain delay in one city and extra innings in another provided for one of the most exciting and memorable simultaneous endings to a playoff race that baseball has seen in years — all of it happening just minutes apart in two different towns.
“Within eight minutes the world changed,” said Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who was one of several Yankees players monitoring both games in the clubhouse. “That’s what makes baseball the greatest game.”
As the clock approached midnight, the Orioles came back to tie the Red Sox with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and when the score was relayed to the fans at Tropicana Field, their cheers let the Rays know what was happening up north.
A few minutes later, the Orioles won their game on a walk-off single by Robert Andino, and as the cheers went up again, Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist turned to his teammates in the dugout and said: “This is our game now. We have to win this now.”
At 12:05 a.m. Thursday morning, they did. Evan Longoria, the Rays’ most talented player and the face of the franchise, ripped a 2-2 pitch from Scott Proctor over the low part of the left-field fence and the Rays completed two improbable comebacks, beating the Yankees, 8-7, in 12 innings to win the American League wild card.
After trailing the Red Sox by nine games on Sept. 4, the Rays overcame the largest September deficit in major league history to make the playoffs, unleashing a wild celebration in the process.
“I don’t think there’s any specific explanation for it,” said Longoria, who also hit a three-run home run as part of a wild comeback in the eighth inning. “It’s just a bunch of guys who put together an incredible season.”
But a combination of a rain delay in one city and extra innings in another provided for one of the most exciting and memorable simultaneous endings to a playoff race that baseball has seen in years — all of it happening just minutes apart in two different towns.
“Within eight minutes the world changed,” said Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who was one of several Yankees players monitoring both games in the clubhouse. “That’s what makes baseball the greatest game.”
As the clock approached midnight, the Orioles came back to tie the Red Sox with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and when the score was relayed to the fans at Tropicana Field, their cheers let the Rays know what was happening up north.
A few minutes later, the Orioles won their game on a walk-off single by Robert Andino, and as the cheers went up again, Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist turned to his teammates in the dugout and said: “This is our game now. We have to win this now.”
At 12:05 a.m. Thursday morning, they did. Evan Longoria, the Rays’ most talented player and the face of the franchise, ripped a 2-2 pitch from Scott Proctor over the low part of the left-field fence and the Rays completed two improbable comebacks, beating the Yankees, 8-7, in 12 innings to win the American League wild card.
After trailing the Red Sox by nine games on Sept. 4, the Rays overcame the largest September deficit in major league history to make the playoffs, unleashing a wild celebration in the process.
“I don’t think there’s any specific explanation for it,” said Longoria, who also hit a three-run home run as part of a wild comeback in the eighth inning. “It’s just a bunch of guys who put together an incredible season.”
