Vidal Brujan tallied his first major league hit and RBI, and Kevin Kiermaier homered and drove in a career-best five, helping the Tampa Bay Rays defeat the Cleveland Indians 7-1 in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader.
Brujan got an opportunity to hit in the bottom of the first inning with a runner in scoring position after Ji-Man Choi walked, Joey Wendle reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Choi, and Austin Meadows was hit by a pitch. The 23-year-old laced a J.C. Mejia pitch into right field for a single, scoring Wendle.
Brujan, who was named the organization’s best base runner in 2018 and 2019 while in the minors, quickly swiped second, and scored behind Meadows on a double from Kiermaier.
Franmil Reyes got Cleveland’s only run leading off the second, swatting his 13th home run of the year off Michael Wacha.
Kiermaier added to Tampa Bay’s lead in the third, following a Wendle double, Meadows walk, and Brujan groundout by connecting for his second home run of 2021, a three-run blast that knocked Mejia from the game.
Tampa Bay added single runs in the fourth and sixth on solo homers from Brandon Lowe, his 18th of the year, off DJ Johnson, and Brett Phillips, his fourth, off Trevor Stephan.
Wacha (2-2) allowed just the Reyes homer and four hits total in six innings of work, with Ryan Sherriff pitching a scoreless seventh.
Collin McHugh (2-1, 1.87 ERA) will open the second game of the twin-bill, taking on Sam Hentges (1-3, 8.22 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for around 2:55.
Fleming Activated by Rays For Nightcap
After the matinee, the Rays optioned Sherriff back to Triple-A Durham, and activated left-hander Josh Fleming from the 10-day injured list. Fleming is expected to work the bulk of Game 2.
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.
