Left-hander Jeffrey Springs stayed nearly unhittable and the Tampa Bay Rays stayed perfect as they routed the visiting Oakland Athletics 11-0 Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

At 8-0, the Rays are off to the hottest start in baseball’s wild-card era since the 2003 Kansas City Royals, who started 9-0. Tampa Bay has won all eight games by at least four runs.

Springs scattered three hits, struck out seven and walked three while logging seven innings. In his first start, Springs threw six no-hit innings with 12 strikeouts against the Detroit Tigers on April 2.

The Rays were 25th in homers in 2022, but they entered this contest with a major league-leading 18.

Tampa Bay hit three more long balls Saturday, but the club didn’t do it all with clout this time, building a 5-0 lead by accepting six walks and three hit batsmen from Oakland’s wild pitching staff.

The Rays cobbled together five runs on just three singles until Manuel Margot led off the sixth with a homer into the left-field bleachers for a 6-0 lead.

Brandon Lowe blew the game open three batters later when he drove a fastball over the middle from Domingo Acevedo 431 feet into the center-field seats for a 9-0 cushion.

Randy Arozarena’s second homer of the season, a 414-foot blast to straightaway center field, came off A’s catcher Carlos Perez, who became the first position player to pitch in 2023 under MLB’s new rules.

Oakland’s starter, 6-foot-6 right-handed flamethrower Shintaro Fujinami, got through three scoreless innings but Tampa Bay chased him in the fifth on a two-run single by Arozarena for a 4-0 lead.

The Rays tacked on another during a bizarre fifth in which they scored on three hit batsmen, two walks and a single by Arozarena to lead 5-0.

-Field Level Media