The Tampa Bay Rays are making the scoreboard work overtime and have a chance to complete a 9-0 road trip when they face the Athletics on Wednesday afternoon at West Sacramento, Calif.
The Rays scored 22 runs in the first two games of the series and tied a franchise record with six homers in Tuesday’s 12-4 thumping of the A’s.
Tampa Bay can match its season high for consecutive victories if it can finish the trip in style. The trek began with three victories over the Colorado Rockies and three against the Seattle Mariners before two over the Athletics.
“We got to finish strong. We’ve got another one (Wednesday),” Rays shortstop Taylor Walls said after his second career two-homer game. “Might as well win all nine.”
The switch-hitting Walls homered from both sides of the plate Tuesday, becoming the first player in franchise history to achieve that multiple times in the same game.
The homers were his first two of the season. He hadn’t gone deep since July 27, 2025, against the Cincinnati Reds.
“The baseball gods picked a window for me, and I hit it at the right time I guess,” Walls said.
Junior Caminero, Yandy Diaz, Victor Mesa Jr. and Carson Williams added homers for the Rays. Caminero and Diaz also went deep on Monday.
The Rays stand a season-best 27 games above .500 and own the second-best record in the majors, behind the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Athletics have lost 14 of their past 17 games and 31 of their last 38. Making matters worse is that iAll-Star first baseman Nick Kurtz could miss the rest of the season because of a right thumb injury.
Kurtz visited a hand specialist in Los Angeles last week and is wearing a brace for at least three more weeks after having a platelet-rich-plasma injection on Aug. 4.
“Four weeks of no mobility,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay told reporters about Kurtz. “You probably can do the timeline and think through the scenarios in front of us for Nick.”
Kurtz has 21 homers and 69 RBIs in 99 games this season after being the unanimous American League Rookie of the Year in 2025.
A’s left fielder Tyler Soderstrom (hip) was held out of Tuesday’s game, but Kotsay said he expects him to return Wednesday.
“Hard to write a lineup without Tyler Soderstrom in it,” Kotsay said of a player with 19 homers. “But it would be even harder if we didn’t have him for the next 42 games. You have to balance that.”
Also for the A’s, Jacob Wilson’s record for consecutive games without an error by a shortstop increased to 113 with help from a generous scorekeeper. Wilson made an errant flip to second in the eighth inning, but the miscue was changed to a fielder’s choice following the game.
Tampa Bay’s Nick Martinez threw his first career nine-inning complete game (four earned runs, eight hits) on Tuesday and will look for fellow All-Star right-hander Drew Rasmussen to hurl his own gem on Wednesday.
Rasmussen (11-5, 2.75 ERA) has won four straight starts and hasn’t allowed a run in 20 innings over his last three.
“I’m very confident in him,” Martinez said. “I think he’s our best guy — the way he prepares and competes.”
Rasmussen, 31, gave up two hits over seven shutout innings during Friday’s 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners. He is 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in five career appearances (four starts) against the Athletics.
Lawrence Butler and Jonah Heim are both 2-for-4 with a homer off Rasmussen. Butler hit a two-run homer off Martinez.
Right-hander Jack Perkins (2-8, 7.04 ERA) will start for the Athletics on Wednesday. He has lost three straight starts and five of his last six. On Friday, he gave up five runs and five hits over three innings during a 13-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Perkins has never faced the Rays.
–Field Level Media
