The Tampa Bay Rays are riding a power surge and sporting a new All-Star, the team’s fifth, and will try to keep rolling Saturday afternoon when they face the Seattle Mariners in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The American League East-leading Rays hit four home runs in Friday night’s 7-2 rout of the Mariners, who have fallen one game below .500, and Tampa Bay did it behind new All-Star Nick Martinez.
The club’s 16 home runs lead the AL in July.
The Rays moved their home mark to a majors-best 34-14, and Martinez improved to 8-2 with a 2.65 ERA with 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against Seattle, which has lost four straight games and slipped out of first place in the AL West on a disastrous road trip that began in Miami.
Martinez was added to the AL squad on Friday after an injury to Boston Red Sox pitcher Ranger Suarez took the southpaw out of Tuesday’s game.
Victor Mesa Jr., who hit the third of the team’s long shots, said he could not be happier for his 35-year-old pitcher’s first All-Star appearance.
“He deserves it and more,” Mesa said. “He’s a dog. … Obviously, he deserves everything good that is happening to him. I’m happy for him and his family.”
Martinez joins teammates Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero, Drew Rasmussen and Bryan Baker on the AL club for the midsummer classic in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Seattle starter Luis Castillo, a three-time All-Star, was victimized for three of the homers in five tough innings that led to four runs on nine hits.
“It was all good except for that fifth inning where I gave up two homers,” Castillo said via a translator of the homers by Cedric Mullins and Mesa. “To me, it was just two bad pitches where I put them right where I didn’t want to.”
Seattle was largely unproductive in its final two games in Miami this week, being outscored 10-4 in two defeats and going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
In Friday’s series opener by the bay, it was no different.
Tampa Bay outhit the M’s 14-5, with two of Seattle’s hits coming from shortstop J.P. Crawford. The Mariners were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, making them 3-for-40 with 12 strikeouts in that situation over the past five contests.
After losing Thursday’s series finale 8-4 to the Marlins, the AL West club soon fell out of first place that night following Wyatt Langford’s walk-off single as the Texas Rangers won 7-6 over the last-place Los Angeles Angels.
Logan Gilbert (7-5, 3.19 ERA) will start for Seattle on Saturday after going 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA in five June starts. He started July with an 11-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Independence Day, allowing one hit in 7 1/3 innings.
The right-hander has 114 strikeouts in 107 1/3 innings (9.6 per nine) and an 0.95 WHIP after yielding just 80 hits and 22 walks.
In five career starts against the Rays, the Winter Park, Fla., product is 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA.
Tampa Bay’s Griffin Jax (4-6, 3.60 ERA) was outstanding in retiring the first 13 New York Yankees he faced Monday, but he took the loss by walking consecutive batters in the fifth and then seeing Jose Caballero rip a three-run homer in the division rival’s 5-1 win.
In 15 career relief appearances vs. the Mariners, Jax, a right-hander, is 2-2 with a 7.56 ERA.
–Field Level Media
