The Tampa Bay Rays took out their frustrations on losing the final two games on their road trip on the Baltimore Orioles Monday, as Brandon lowe hit a pair of home runs, Brett Phillips hit an inside-the-park homer, and Josh Fleming nearly got through six innings following a perfect open from Collin McHugh, as the Rays beat up on the Baltimore Orioles 9-2 at Tropicana Field.
Baltimore could not figure out McHugh, who needed just 21 pitches to get the first six outs of the game, but was able to push a run across on Josh Fleming in the third after Jorge Mateo flared a double to right, moved to third on a base hit by Austin Wynns, and scored eventually on a squeeze bunt by Cedric Mullins.
Tampa Bay also had its issue dealing with Orioles starter Matt Harvey the first time through, but once they got a second look at him, they began to string together offense. Ji-Man Choi drew a walk to begin the bottom of the fourth, moving to second base on an infield hit by Manuel Margot, and both runners would score on a triple by Austin Meadows, giving the Rays the lead for good.
Kevin Kiermaier added on to the Rays’ lead an inning later, leading off against Harvey with his fourth home run of the year.
Lowe followed up two batters later with his first homer of ghe night and 27th of the season to push the lead to 4-1.
Choi followed with a check-swing single away from the infield shift, and after Harvey was replaced with left-hander Paul Fry, Meadows drew a two-out walk to move Choi into scoring position and Wendle drove him in with a double to left and a 5-1 lead.
Brett Phillips made it 6-1 leading off the sixth against Fry, becoming the second Rays player in the last four games to hit an inside-the-park home run. For the outfielder, it was his tenth home run of the season, matching his career total.
Lowe would make it 8-1 following a Mejia base hit with his second homer of the night, number 28 on the season.
Mike Brosseau, just called back up from Triple-A on Sunday, added a solo shot in the seventh off Fernando Abad to make it 9-1.
Baltimore got one more run off Fleming in the eighth on an RBI double by Trey Mancini, but Louis Head would come in to finish the frame off with no further damage, then work a scoreless ninth to finish out the contest.
Tampa Bay has now won 12 of the first 13 games in the season’s series, and extends theie lead over the idle Boston Red Sox to 3 1/2 games.
Drew Rasmussen will look to add another win to the total Tuesday, when he takes on John Means. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
