Randy Arozarena hit his third home run in the last two days, Joey Wendle homered twice, and Rich Hill allowed just two hits in six innings of work as the Tampa Bay Rays finished of a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles and their seventh consecutive victory with a 10-1 decision Thursday afternoon.
Tampa Bay jumped on the Orioles Thursday by putting four runs up on baltimore starter Dean Kremer in the second. Wendle led off the inning with his first homer of the afternoon and fourth of the year. Kevin Kiermaier followed with a base hit, moving to second two batters later when Francisco Mejia drew a walk, and Arozarena then blasted his seventh home run of the year to go up 4-0.
Despite walking four to go along with the two hits allowed, the only run Hill allowed Thursday came in the fourth, when Trey Mancini led off the inning with his tenth homer of the year.
The Rays added two more runs in the sixth off reliever Keegan Akin, as three straight singles by Arozarena, Austin meadows, and Ji-Man Choi led to a 5-1 lead and Brandon Lowe‘s sacrifice fly made it 6-1.
Tampa Bay added three more runs an inning later off Travis Lakins thanks to a base hit from Arozarena, an RBI double by Meadows, and a single by Yandy Diaz.
Wendle capped the scoring in the ninth by taking outfielder Stevie Wilkerson, who came on to pitch, deep for his second blast of the day.
The win gets the Rays even with the Boston Red Sox in the win column for the lead in the American League East. Tampa Bay trails by a game in the loss column going into the evening.
Next up for the Rays is a weekend wrap-around series in Dunedin against the Toronto Blue Jays, the final series of the season for the Jays at TD Ballpark before moving to Buffalo to continue their home schedule in June. Tyler Glasnow (4-2, 2.35 ERA) will get the start in Thursday’s opener. First pitch is scheduled for 7:37.
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.
