Robert Andino couldn’t be granted a playoff share, but the Rays did give him a standing ovation when he came to bat in the first inning Friday of their game against the Orioles.
Andino had the ninth-inning single that beat the Red Sox on the final day of the 2011 regular season. The Rays went on to beat the Yankees later in the evening, giving them the AL wild card.
“We just talked about that prior to the game, what was the appropriate thing to do? We saw him in the two-hole, we said let’s give him a nice round of applause,” Rays manager Joe Maddon told the Tampa Tribune. “He was startled by it. He didn’t know what was going on. He was looking around. I thought it was pretty good.”
Andino went on to double in the at-bat. The Rays and Orioles ended up playing to a 3-3 tie in 10 innings.