Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero drove in two 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. 0
Caminero pushed his RBI total to 102 by going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Diaz had a double and run in the Rays’ first five-hit game since Tommy Pham in 2019.
Chandler Simpson and Jake Mangum had three hits apiece, while Hunter Feduccia knocked in three with two singles 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 eight 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 saw Raleigh single in a run. Then Rodriguez launched an opposite-field three-run shot to make it 9-4.
Both teams were issued warnings in the seventh after Houser plunked Dominic Canzone in the ribs. Kirby hit Josh Lowe high on the right arm in the second.
