Kody Clemens’ walk-off hit lifts Phillies over Rays

Kody Clemens grounded an RBI single through the right side with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning to lift the host Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

Clemens had been hitless in his previous 13 at-bats before delivering against Garrett Cleavinger (7-4) to plate Bryce Harper with the decisive run.

Kyle Schwarber’s 34th home run — his sixth in the past seven games — and Cristopher Sanchez’s six scoreless innings helped Philadelphia (86-58) avoid a third straight defeat.

Brandon Lowe hit a game-tying pinch homer in the top of the ninth for the Rays (71-73), who did not allow a hit until Schwarber’s sixth-inning blast over the right-center field wall opened the game’s scoring.

Yandy Diaz contributed two hits for Tampa Bay.

Lowe led off the ninth with a deep blast off Carlos Estevez (4-4). Center fielder Johan Rojas leapt right at the point where the high center field wall meets the lower fence. It was unclear whether the ball would have hit off the wall or gone over the fence, but nevertheless, Rojas had it in his glove and then dropped it over the fence.

Two outs later, Estevez took a liner off his leg that wound up as a single for Josh Lowe, who stole second before Ben Rortvedt lined out to end the inning.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Harper lined a ball off the right field wall. However, he did not run hard out of the box and was limited to a single. Harper advanced on Bryson Stott’s one-out infield single and Buddy Kennedy’s walk before Clemens’ heroics.

Sanchez worked around a baserunner in each of the first five innings before setting down the Rays 1-2-3 in the sixth.

Orion Kerkering came on for the seventh and retired the Tampa Bay side in order. Jeff Hoffman allowed two baserunners in the eighth, but the All-Star righty struck out Junior Caminero with runners on the corners to escape the jam.

–Field Level Media