ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays got the biggest prize of the night before they threw the first pitch Saturday, then went out and won the game, beating the Phillies, 4-3.
Oakland’s afternoon loss at Seattle ensured that the Rays (39-20) would finish the regular season with the best record in the American League and will be the top seed for the playoffs that start Tuesday with a best-of-three series at Tropicana Field.
The Rays won’t know until after Sunday’s final regular-season games who their first-round opponent will be, as the Blue Jays and Yankees are still sorting that out.
One will be the No. 8 seed as the second wild card and face the Rays, and the other will be the No. 5 seed as the second-place finisher in the AL East and face the second-place Central team.
The Yankees are a game ahead, so if they beat the Marlins on Sunday, they are No. 5 and the Jays No. 8. But if the Yankees lose and the Jays beat the Orioles, the Jays win the tiebreaker and the Yankees are headed to the Trop.
On Saturday, the Phillies, who are battling for a National League playoff berth, took 1-0 and 2-1 leads, then the Rays rallied for three runs in the fifth. Manuel Margot got them started with a double, and Mike Zunino, team MVP Brandon Lowe and Willy Adames delivered two-out, run-scoring hits.
John Curtiss started as the opener for the Rays, which was historical since he closed out Friday’s game. Curtiss was the eighth pitcher to record a save, then start his team’s next game with no days off, since 1969, when saves became a stat. No surprise, two others were Rays: Erasmo Ramirez in 2017 and Andrew Kittredge earlier this season. (Neither did well, as Ramirez got hit hard, and Kittredge left with a season-ending elbow injury.)
Curtiss wasn’t sharp, allowing hits to three of the five batters he faced before giving way to Ryan Yarbrough, who worked 3 1/3 innings. Pete Fairbanks (who got his team-high sixth win), Diego Castillo and Aaron Slegers followed as the Rays balanced getting work for some relievers and rest for others.
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