Nelson Cruz homered twice, Mike Zunino also went deep for the fifth consectuve game, and the Tampa Bay Rays improved to 13-1 on the season against the Baltimore Orioles with a 10-0 whitewashing Tuesday evening at Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay used three pitchers to throw a combined four-hitter, with Drew Rasmussen working the first four innings, allowing one hit and striking out three, and after Adam Conley threw a perfect fifth inning, Chris Ellis then threw the final four innings, giving up three hits and striking out seven to earn his first big-league win.
The Rays took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning against Orioles starter John Means, as Jorge Mateo‘s error allowed Wander Franco to reach to start the inning. The 20-year-old then took second on a fly ball to center off the bat of Yandy Diaz, and manuel Margot drove him in with a double to right.
Means got Brandon Lowe to ground out for the second out of the inning, but Zunino picked up his teammate by blasting a two-run homer, his 26th of the year.
Tampa Bay added on quickly an inning later, with Kevin Kiermaier and Randy Arozarena each singling off Means to begin the frame, and Cruz then lifting a three-run home run to left, his 25th of the season.
Franco’s single would end Means’ evening, and while Marcos Diplan got both Diaz and Margot to ground into fielder’s choices, Lowe’s double brought in Margot to make it 7-0, and Ramon Urias‘ failure to catch a Zunino pop fly brought in the second baseman to make it 8-0.
Tampa Bay’s final two runs of the night came in the sixth, with Arozarena reaching on an infield single in front of Cruz, whose laser off the ribbon board at the front of the upper deck in left made it 10-0.
The win stretches Tampa Bay’s lead in the American League East to five games over both the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox after New York swept a double header from Boston to move into second place by percentage points.
The Rays will get left-hander Ryan Yarbrough back from the COVID injured list Wednesday, as he will work the bulk of the third game of the series against the Orioles. Right-hander Louis Head (1-0, 1.85 ERA) will open the contest against Spenser Watkins (2-4, 5.25 ERA). 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.
