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Jennings' ninth inning single sends Rays past Marlins

May 29, 2013 - 5:41 AM St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Desmond Jennings singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied to beat the Miami Marlins, 7-6.

The Rays fought back from a 4-0 deficit, only to see the Marlins go up 6-5 in the top of the eighth as Greg Dobbs delivered a two-out RBI single.

Tampa Bay pulled even in the home half of the inning, however, as a two-out base hit by Yunel Escobar plated Luke Scott.

After Fernando Rodney (2-2) shut down Miami with relative ease in the top of the ninth, Kelly Johnson and Evan Longoria hit back-to-back singles off Mike Dunn (1-1) to begin the bottom of the frame. Dunn retired the next two batters before being replaced by Chad Qualls, who gave up Jennings' game-ending hit, an opposite-field liner over a leaping first baseman.

The Rays swept the two-game interleague set at Tropicana Field. The Citrus Series will now shift to Marlins Park for games on Wednesday and Thursday.

Jennings and Scott each had three hits and scored two runs, while Tampa Bay starter Jeremy Hellickson permitted five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"Desmond was really big. We talked about a few things with him. It was outstanding to see the line drive down the right-field line to win the ball game," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

Chris Coghlan had a two-run triple and a solo homer for Miami, which has dropped seven in a row. Kevin Slowey got the start for the Marlins and allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Justin Ruggiano put Miami on the board with an RBI single in the second, and the visitors tacked on three two-out runs in the next inning. Placido Polanco kept the third alive with a single and came home on Derek Dietrich's triple. Marcell Ozuna then walked and scored along with Dietrich on Coghlan's subsequent hit.

Tampa Bay got two runs back after loading the bases in its half of the third. Matt Joyce lofted a sacrifice fly and Johnson followed with an RBI single.

The Rays produced another run on fourth-inning doubles by Jennings and Escobar, but Miami went up 5-3 when Coghlan led off the sixth with a blast to right field.

Jose Lobaton tied things up for Tampa Bay with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth.

"Any time you get walked off three times in a road trip its tough. It wears on everyone," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.

Game Notes

The Rays improved to 7-1 in interleague play this season ... Ozuna extended his hitting streak to 13 games after going 2-for-3. He scored half of Miami's runs ... Tampa Bay was 6-for-16 with runners in scoring position.