Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero drove in runs in back-to-back four-run innings, Yandy Diaz went 5-for-5 and the Rays ran their winning streak to six in a sweep-claiming 9-4 thrashing of the visiting Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night.
The Rays (70-69) won for the ninth time in 11 games and moved to within 2 1/2 games of Seattle (73-67) for the third American League wild-card spot. Tampa Bay scored four times in both the first and second innings, bouncing Mariners starter George Kirby in the shortest outing of his career.
Caminero pushed his RBI total to 102 by going 2-for-5 with a double and two runs. Diaz had a double and a run in the Rays’ first five-hit game since Tommy Pham accomplished the feat in 2019.
Chandler Simpson and Jake Mangum had three hits apiece, while Hunter Feduccia collected two hits and three RBIs in Tampa Bay’s season-high 19-hit explosion.
In his second win for Tampa Bay, starter Adrian Houser (8-4) allowed four runs on four hits in seven innings. He fanned eight, walked one and hit one.
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh recorded his American League-leading 109th RBI and Julio Rodriguez slugged his 28th homer.
Kirby (8-7) was battered for eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits in just two innings. He struck out one without a walk but hit a batter.
After a four-RBI showing on Tuesday, Caminero put the Rays up in the first with an RBI single against Kirby before Josh Lowe singled in Brandon Lowe. Mangum’s slapped single — the Rays’ fifth straight hit — and Feduccia’s sacrifice fly made it 4-0.
The Rays, who notched nine hits in their first 11 at-bats, added another four-spot in the second. Brandon Lowe’s sacrifice fly, Caminero’s double and Feduccia’s two-run single created major separation.
Brandon Lowe’s sacrifice fly in the fifth added another marker.
Down 9-0, Seattle got an RBI single from Raleigh in the sixth. Rodriguez then launched an opposite-field three-run shot to make it 9-4.
Both teams were issued warnings in the seventh inning after Houser plunked Dominic Canzone in the ribs. Kirby hit Josh Lowe with a pitch high on the right arm in the second.
–Field Level Media
