Jose Lobaton Hits Walk-Off Homer off Koji Uehara into Rays Tank at the Trop

Jose Lobaton hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth off Red Sox closer Koji Uehara to give the Rays a 5-4 victory in ALDS Game 3 Monday night, extending the series in process. As an added bonus, the ball landed in the Rays Touch Tank over the outfield wall at the Trop.

Lobaton has nine career homers in 594 regular-season at bats. Uehara compiled one of the better seasons for a relief pitcher in recent baseball history, finishing with a 1.09 ERA with an 11-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

As Yankees’ radio play-by-play man John Sterling often opines, who can predict baseball?

The homer ended a marathon game that lasted nearly four hours and 20 minutes.

Boston had tied the game in the top half of the ninth off Tampa closer Fernando Rodney via Dustin Pedroia’ RBI groundout.

The ball landing in the tank is so great. It’s not as rare a feat as Kramer placing a Titleist in the blowhole of a whale off Rockaway Beach circa 1993, however.