For Corey Dickerson, a single was enough.
Dickerson, who hit his 12th homer of the year and his second triple earlier in the game, delivered a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning to knock in the winning run in a come-from-behind victory over the Seattle Mariners Wednesday night.
Dickerson, who has extra base hits on 60 percent of his hits this year, drove in Logan Morrison with the winning run.
“You know, I really just tried to put a short swing on it and square the ball up, not do too much,” Dickerson said. “He was throwing a lot of heaters. It was big whenever we score runs, but also we were still down [two] runs at that time so we still had some work to do.
“Like we said early in the year, the offense will come. These guys are keeping us in the game every night. If you keep us in the game long enough, we can string together some good at-bats and that’s what we are doing right now. We are playing really good team ball and that’s what it takes.”
Dickerson’s single came after a three-run homer by Evan Longoria tied it. It equaled the Rays’ biggest comeback of the season.
“Longo’s been a lot better than pretty good, he’s been outstanding in every moment,” said manager Kevin Cash. “Whether it’s on defense, coming up late in the ball game or early in the ball game, his at-bats are just tremendous and he’s getting big hit after big hit for us.”
The Rays won despite falling behind 4-0 in the second inning. Still, starter Jake Odorizzi considered it a learning experience.
“It was a weird game,” Odorizzi said. “Two mistakes got hit and they cost me four runs. But I felt like I kind of figured something out tonight moving forward, which is always a good thing. So I think there’s some good stuff to come, hopefully, but that’s my big takeaway.”
Odorizzi was ejected in the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes.
“He thought it was a ball, I thought it was a strike,” Odorizzi said. “Big situation right there. Getting through six would have been huge after how it started. We just didn’t agree right there and that’s how it played out. I don’t hold any animosity or anything. We just didn’t agree on that pitch. I was out of the game regardless so I just voiced my opinion. We’ll move on from it.”
Ryan Garton got the win for the Rays. Alex Colome picked up his 19th save in 19 tries. It was the Rays’ 10th win in 12 games.
Outfielder Steven Souza was injured diving for a ball, but it did not appear too serious.
Tonight, Drew Smyly pitches against former Rays’ player Nathan Karns.
