SEATTLE, Wash. — Brooks Raley has bounced around baseball for the past decade or so and done some good things, but there's been nothing quite like his time with the Tampa Bay Rays.
He signed a two-year $10 million deal on Nov. 30, and then a few days later, baseball shut down with the lockout. And it wasn't until March that he finally got to spring training and started meeting teammates.
He's learned the Tampa Bay way quickly, especially with how the bullpen works. It's a collective effort, with roles that morph from day to day.
Raley loves it, and fits right in.
"I've been here, what, six weeks, and we've played like 12 nail-biter games already,'' Raley said. "But that's what is so fun about being here. Our bullpen, those guys are all great. Every night, guys step up, and it doesn't matter when your name gets called.
"It never matters to me, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, even early on some of our bullpen days. For me, the most important inning is the inning I'm out there. I have a job to do, to get outs, and it's no different for me. That ninth inning, that situation, nothing really changes for me, and that's really the truth. It's all about executing pitches and getting outs.''
The only thing different about doing it in the ninth inning, of course, is that you get to shake a lot of hands and give a lot of high fives and talk over the loud music in the victorious clubhouse afterward. Raley did that Friday night, closing out the Rays' dramatic 8-7 victory with three straight outs in the ninth inning. He did the same thing the night before, gathering two of his three saves this season on back-to-back nights. (Andrew Kittredge leads the Rays with four saves.)
Raley stopped the merry-go-round on Friday night. There were six lead changes in Friday's game, and the pesky Mariners had taken leads against bullpen mates Matt Wisler in the first, Josh Fleming in the fourth and Ryan Thompson, who hadn't give up a run all year, gave up two runs in the eighth on a Jarred Kelencic two-run homer, and Seattle went ahead 6-5.
The Rays went back ahead in the top of the ninth on a three-run homer by Maneul Margot, but when Thompson gave up a leadoff homer in the ninth, Raley got the call from the bullpen.
And?
Zip, zip, zip. Raley got two flyouts and a line drive to shortstop Wander Franco to end the game. Winning is fun. And closing out a win like that, well, that's even better when a game was going back and forth all night long.
It was the Rays's fifth straight win on this road trip, and how they won — coming back three different times in a game that featured six lead changes — is what impressed Raley, too.
He's learning about his teammates quickly, and he sees a room full of clutch players. He sees that in Margot this week. too. He's 10-for-22 with a homer and eight RBIs in the last six days, with at least a hit in every game.
"That guy, it just seems like he has great at-bats every night,'' Raley said. "He battles, and when he gets his pitch this week, he's just ripping away. But to be honest, that mentality runs through this whole clubhouse. We've had a lot of game where we've fallen behind, and with this group, it just doesn't matter.
"We always think we're going to find a way to come back and win, and a lot of times we do.''
The Rays, 17-10 now and possessors of the third-best record in the American League, have won many games when the bullpen simply dominates and closes things out. Friday was different, with a few guys struggling. This time, the offense picked them up.
That's Rays baseball right there, doing whatever it takes.
"Our bullpen has just been lights out for us, but it was good for our offense to kind of pick them up a little tonight with Seattle kind of clawing back into it, like they do,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "The only thing with Thompson that was a little uncharacteristic was falling behind.
"But with Raley, we're fortunate that we're pretty versatile down there. We've got plenty of options when it comes to getting those final three outs. They're going to get a lot of reps and we're going to mix and match, and I think the guys understand that.''
Raley understands that all too well. That's why he's ready, anytime and anywhere in any game situation, early or late. That's why he's had eight scoreless outings in nine tries, giving up two runs in a win over the Chicago Cubs, but shutting out everyone else.
"It's been a lot of fun here so far,'' said Raley, who's pitched for the Chicago Cubs (2012-13), Cincinnati Reds (2020) and Houston Astros (2020-21). "This is a great locker room, not only with a lot of good players, but a lot of really good guys, too. You can tell why this team has been successful for years, because they bring in a lot of talented guys who all fit it well, too. It's a good time and, of course, winning always helps, too.
"This trip has been great, and we've just got to keep it going.''
Tampa Bay and Seattle are at it again on Saturday night. The game starts at 9:10 p.m. ET. Washington native Drew Rasmussen (2-1, 3.13 ERA) starts for the Rays against Seattle's Marco Gonzales (1-3, 4.05 ERA). The two faced each other on April 27 in St. Petersburg, with the Rays winning 3-2.
More must-reads: