Rays come out swinging, pound Orioles for season-best offensive night
Published in Baseball
The bunts, infield hits and aggressive baserunning are cool and fun to watch, but the Tampa Bay Rays have insisted during their remarkable start to the season that they aren’t only a small-ball team.
They showed that Monday in a 16-6 battering of the Baltimore Orioles, posting season highs in runs, hits (18) and extra-base hits (seven).
Yandy Diaz led the way with four hits (including two doubles) and four RBIs. Junior Caminero had an RBI single and a three-run homer, his 13th of the season. Taylor Walls had two doubles. Ryan Vilade had three hits, including a most exciting run-scoring triple, and three RBIs. Jonny DeLuca had two hits and three RBIs.
Shane McClanahan wasn’t as sharp as previous outings, but picked up his fifth win, having returned to action after missing the previous two-plus seasons with injuries.
The RBI single he allowed Adley Rutschman in the third inning ended his career-best scoreless streak at 24 1/3 innings, though he then recorded his 500th career strikeout by fanning Pete Alonso, the Tampa product.
The Rays improved their American League-best record to 31-15 in moving to a season-high 16 games over .500. They have won six of their last eight games, 13 of 16, 19 of 23 and 26 of 34.
They also won their eighth consecutive series opener.
Though the announced attendance was 13,633, there was a lively group in left field, most of whom took off their shirts and were chanting loudly through the final innings.
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