None of that changed the identity of this Rays team, though. Tampa Bay leads the American League in batting average and ranks among the league leaders in stolen bases, playing a bunt-and-run style built around burners like Chandler Simpson rather than the long ball. "That's how they play: steal bases, put pressure on you and make you play defense in different spots to account for their speed and what they do with the bunt game," Stammen said of the approach.
San Diego had chances. The Padres blew a lead in the middle game of this set and hung around again Sunday, only to watch Tampa Bay's bullpen and defense keep suffocating anything resembling a rally. A club that came in with a winning record has now dropped three straight to this same opponent, and the frustration showed up on the injury report as much as the scoreboard — Rengifo's knee gave out mid-rally, one more body lost in a series San Diego simply couldn't solve.
Tampa Bay's win streak, sitting at four before Sunday, is now five, and it came the hard way this time — a back-and-forth game that went final only after both bullpens had emptied the tank. San Diego, by contrast, heads out of St. Petersburg having lost its last three, its bench thinner than when it arrived, and its bullpen no closer to finding an answer for Tampa Bay's speed game.
Eleven innings, a blown lead in extras, and a walk-off finish — this series ended with exactly the kind of chaos its first two games promised, and Tampa Bay was again the team standing at the end of it.