Six days into the season, the Tampa Bay Rays are the only unbeaten team in the major leagues.
The visiting Rays trailed the Washington Nationals by a run going into the top of the ninth, but Tampa Bay’s Luke Raley, Josh Lowe and Yandy Diaz smashed home runs during a five-run outburst to seal a 10-6 victory on Tuesday.
Raley and Lowe greeted Washington closer Kyle Finnegan (0-1) with back-to-back long balls to start the inning.
Raley hooked an opposite-field drive into the left field bleachers to tie the game 6-6. Lowe followed three pitches later with a no-doubt homer into the second deck in right.
With one out, Taylor Walls singled and Jose Siri doubled. Finnegan then left a slider over the middle of the plate, and Diaz crushed a three-run blast 414 feet into the left field bullpens.
Earlier in the evening, the Minnesota Twins, the only other unbeaten team, lost 1-0 as the Miami Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara threw a three-hit shutout.
Things looked promising for the Nationals as Lane Thomas and Alex Call kickstarted the offense with three hits apiece. Washington outhit the Rays 16-5 through the first eight innings.
Thomas knocked Rays starter Josh Fleming out of the game in the fourth inning when he doubled down the left field line, driving in Victor Robles and CJ Abrams to give the Nationals a 5-4 lead. Fleming allowed five runs and 10 hits in three-plus innings.
The Nationals added a run in the seventh when Luis Garcia doubled to right, scoring Call from first base for a 6-4 lead. Randy Arozarena doubled home a run for the Rays in the eighth.
Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double from Arozarena, a run-scoring grounder from Wander Franco and a sacrifice fly from Raley.
Call hit an RBI single in the bottom of the first before Jose Siri gave the Rays a 4-2 lead with a solo shot in the top of the second. Thomas’ two-run double in the bottom of the second leveled the score.
Pete Fairbanks closed out the game for the Rays with a scoreless ninth. Ryan Thompson (1-0) earned the win.
–Field Level Media
