Drew Rasmussen won his fifth straight start, Liam Hicks had three hits and slugged a three-run homer, and the Tampa Bay Rays put a ribbon on their unblemished road trip with an 8-4 victory over the Athletics on Wednesday afternoon, completing a three-game sweep in West Sacramento, Calif.
The victory, fueled by a 15-hit attack, completed a 9-0 road run by the American League East frontrunner through the Colorado Rockies, Seattle Mariners and A’s as the club moved to 10-1 in August. The Rays tied their franchise record for most consecutive road wins, a mark they last set in August 2019.
Rasmussen (12-5) tossed five innings and allowed two runs on four hits. He had three strikeouts, a walk and a hit batsman.
Hicks went 3-for-5 with a double and a homer. Jonny DeLuca went 3-for-5 with two doubles and a stolen base.
Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero and Cedric Mullins (double) each had two hits.
The Rays were 6-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
In being saddled with his ninth consecutive losing decision dating back to May 6, A’s starter Jack Perkins (2-9) surrendered seven runs (six earned) on 12 hits over five innings. He fanned two and walked one.
Zack Gelof was 2-for-4 with his 13th homer, and Lawrence Butler went deep for the ninth time. Carlos Cortes doubled in two runs, and Tyler Soderstrom had one to move his hitting streak to 10 games.
In the series finale, the Rays put two runs across in the first inning with the bottom of the order doing the damage after DeLuca’s leadoff double. Consecutive singles, including Richie Palacios’ RBI, plated DeLuca. Perkins’ fielding error allowed Mullins to come home for the second tally.
Mullins slapped a two-out, opposite-field RBI double in the third, but Cortes’ throw from left field to shortstop Donovan Walton led to Hicks being cut down at home for the final out after Tampa Bay’s seventh hit off Perkins.
Cortes contributed again in the bottom half, roping a two-out, two-run double to slice the deficit to 3-2 and produce the first markers against Rasmussen in over 22 innings.
With two outs and nobody on in the fourth, the Rays scored four runs on Caminero’s single and Hicks’ three-run towering shot to right-center, his 16th long ball, for a 7-2 lead.
Diaz singled in Palacios for an 8-2 lead in the eighth, while Gelof and Butler had solo shots for the final margin.
–Field Level Media
