ST. PETERSBURG (620 WDAE) -- Evan Longoria's RBI single in the bottom of the tenth inning scored Peter Bourjos to break a 5-5 tie and give the Tampa Bay Rays their fourth straight victory with a 6-5, 10-inning win over the Oakland Athletics.
Tampa Bay began the tenth with a base hit by Peter Bourjos off Liam Hendriks, who then uncorked a wild pitch to allow him to get into scoring position in front of the third baseman, whose single into the gap ended the game.
Oakland struck for a trio of runs in the third inning off starter Erasmo Ramirez, who allowed five consecutive hits with one out in the inning, with Jed Lowrie opening the scoring with an RBI double and Khris Davis and Yonder Alonso adding to the lead with run-scoring singles.
Tampa Bay cut the lead back to a single run in the fourth, as Mallex Smith reached on a throwing error by Sonny Gray and took third on a double by Longoria. Logan Morrison struck out for the second out of the inning, but Steven Souza Jr. picked up his teammate with a two-run base hit that made it a 3-2 game.
The contest remained 3-2 until the sixth, when Longoria started the inning with a base hit off Gray. Morrison moved him to third on a groundout and Souza drew a walk to put runners at the corners. Rasmus struck out for the second out of that frame, but it was Beckham who played "pick 'em up" with a double that brought in both runners to give Tampa Bay the lead.
Michael Martinez then reached on an infield single and Beckham scored when catcher Josh Phegley could not corral the throw home for a 5-3 lead.
Ramirez left after 93 pitches one out into the sixth inning, and Chase Whitley stranded both inherited runners to end the inning. Tommy Hunter allowed a run in the seventh on a Ryon Healy base hit, but stranded the bases loaded by getting pinch-hitter Stephen Vogt to pop out. Danny Farquhar worked a perfect eighth, but Alex Colome allowed back-to-back doubles to Alonso and Healy to blow the save, ending a streak of 12 consecutive save opportunities converted.
Austin Pruitt worked a scoreless tenth inning to earn his fifth win of the year and set up the heroics by Longoria in the bottom of the inning.
The win improved Tampa Bay's record to 32-30.
Game two of the doubleheader will feature Matt Andriese (5-1, 3.45 ERA) taking on left-hander Sean Manaea (5-3, 3.81 ERA).