THE white-hot Tampa Bay Rays continued their onslaught on the unfortunate teams on their schedule and the MLB record books, crushing the visiting Oakland Athletics 11-0 on Easter Sunday (Monday in Manila) in St. Petersburg, Florida, for their ninth straight win to open the season.
The Rays’ matched the 2003 Kansas City Royals for the hottest streak to start a season in baseball’s wild-card era. Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam and Drew Rasmussen (2-0) and two relievers combined on a one-hitter. Ramon Laureano doubled with two outs in the second for the lone Oakland hit.
Wander Franco, Lowe and Harold Ramirez homered in the first five innings as the Rays built a 7-0 lead off Oakland starter James Kaprielian (0-1).
Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 75-18. The Rays’ plus-57 run differential through nine games is the largest ever in MLB since 1900. The Athletics have lost four straight games. They were outscored 31-5 in the three-game series with the Rays.
In other games, it was the Padres 10, Braves 2; Guardians 7, Mariners 6 (12 innings); Blue Jays 12, Angels 11 (10 innings); Diamondbacks 11, Dodgers 6; Pirates 1, White Sox 0; Reds 6, Phillies 4; Yankees 5, Orioles 3; Red Sox 4, Tigers 1; Marlins 7, Mets 2; Astros 5, Twins 1; Brewers 6, Cardinals 1; Rangers 8, Cubs 2; Rockies 7, Nationals 6; and Giants 3, Royals 1.
Padres 10, Braves 2
Nelson Cruz had three hits– including a three-run homer and a double– and drove in six runs as San Diego pummeled host Atlanta for its third victory of the four-game series.
The 42-year-old Cruz hit his second homer of the season– a 432-foot drive to left center– in the third, an RBI double in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth. It was the 10th game in Cruz’s career with six or more RBIs. The Padres scored in five straight innings against Braves left-handed rookie starter Dylan Dodd (1-1) and reliever Lucas Luetge.
Padres starter Seth Lugo (2-0) gave up one run on five hits and four walks with five strikeouts over six innings to earn the win. The Padres were leading 8-0 when the Braves scored in the fifth. Orlando Arcia and Sam Hilliard singled to lead off the inning, with Arcia scoring on Ronald Acuna Jr.’s grounder to the right side.
Guardians 7, Mariners 6 (12 innings)
Jose Ramirez scored the winning run on Josh Bell’s slow roller to second base with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning as Cleveland rallied to defeat Seattle to avoid being swept in the three-game series.
Cleveland’s Will Brennan hit a two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 3-3 and force extra innings. Brennan added a game-tying RBI single in the 11th as the Guardians again rallied from a two-run deficit. Teoscar Hernandez singled home Julio Rodriguez in the top of the 12th to give Seattle a 6-5 lead. — Field Level Media
