Rays just embarrassed the Rangers in an ending Astros fans will totally love

While Houston Astros fans were waiting out that painful rain delay in Pittsburgh that caused GM Dana Brown to get his knickers in a twist, the Texas Rangers were thoroughly embarrassed by the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Astros' chief AL West rival was leading Tampa Bay 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, but ultimately lost by the final of 4-3 after the Rangers inexplicably allowed two runs to cross the plate on an infield hit.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy put the fate of his team into the hands of Robert Garcia in the ninth inning. A groundout off the bat of Brandon Lowe was followed by a single and walk that put runners at first and second with one out. Rays' star Junior Caminero plated a run with an RBI single that cut the Rangers lead to just one run. But after Jake Mangum flied out to Rangers' outfielder Adolis Garcia, Texas was one out away from a win.

Rays just gave Astros fans the best dose of schadenfreude at the expense of the Rangers

But Christopher Morel beat out an infield single that loaded the bases and brought Rays' shortstop Taylor Walls to the plate. In one of the most bizarre plays you'll ever see, a routine ground ball to second base — that should've won it for the Rangers — ended up deciding the game in walk-off fashion for the Rays.

Walls' grounder to second base was fielded cleanly by Marcus Semien, but Garcia failed to sprint off the mound toward first base. With the first baseman out of the position, no one was available to cover the bag which allowed Walls to reach safely and Jonathan Aranda to score.

But the Rays kept the play alive, and despite confusion on the part of Tampa Bay's third coach, Caminero motored home and slid in under the tag from the Rangers' catcher for a walk-off win. The Rangers challenged the play, but the winning run was upheld.

The Rays celebrated and the Rangers walked off in defeat; just the way Astros fans like to see. Texas has now lost three straight and six of their last 10 games. The Astros' win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday gave Houston a 5.5-game lead over the Rangers, and a 1.5-game advantage over the Seattle Mariners.

The Astros will get a visit from the Rangers just before the All-Star break, and while Texas isn't out of the playoff hunt just yet, there are whispers that they could be looking to sell before the MLB trade deadline. The Rangers might look a lot different when they visit Daikin Park in July, and Astros fans won't shed any tears.

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