Yandy Diaz hit the go-ahead home run, doubled and drove in two runs to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 4-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Richie Palacios added an RBI double and Jonny DeLuca chipped in an RBI single for Tampa Bay, which has won seven of its last nine games.
Rays relievers Kevin Kelly (3-1), Ian Seymour, Casey Legumina and Bryan Baker combined to allow one hit and one walk while striking out three in four scoreless innings.
Baker picked up his 13th save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Taylor Ward homered in the first inning for the Orioles, who managed only four hits and have lost four of their last five.
In the sixth, Diaz launched his eighth home run of the season, a 439-foot shot to straightaway center field, giving the Rays a 2-1 lead.
Diaz was hit on the left hand by a Yennier Cano pitch in the eighth and exited the game. Rico Garcia relieved Cano and gave up an RBI double to Palacios and DeLuca’s run-scoring single as Tampa Bay tacked on a pair of insurance runs.
Ward led off the game with a home run that was high and deep to left field, giving the Orioles an early advantage. Later, with one out, Adley Rutschman’s line drive dropped into shallow left field for a hit, but Griffin Jax got Pete Alonso to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Rays tied the game 1-1 in their half of the first when Jonathan Aranda worked a 10-pitch at-bat into a two-out walk and scored on Diaz’s RBI double to the left-center gap.
Gunnar Henderson sharply singled to right field with one out in the sixth, but Kelly induced Rutschman to hit into a double play.
Chandler Simpson looped a two-out single into left field in the seventh, chasing Baltimore reliever Keegan Akin from the game, before being caught stealing two pitches later.
Orioles starter Kyle Bradish (2-6) yielded two runs on four hits, walked three and struck out six in 5 1/3 innings. Jax gave up three hits and a run, walking one and fanning six over five innings.
–Field Level Media
