Saturday, 4 a.m.

Take care of the start. Take care of the finish.

Usually, the middle will take care of itself.

The Tampa Bay Rays rode a familiar game plan Friday night in a 2-1 win over Seattle at T-Mobile Park. The Rays got a strong starting performance from Drew Rasmussen, who improved his record to 11-5 by going seven innings and giving up just two hits.

Then it was Bryan Baker's turn, again. Baker recorded his 33rd save, even though he gave up a solo homer in the ninth to Julio Rodriguez.

The Rays didn't have a lot of offense. They had only six hits, but two of them left the yard. Jonny DeLuca had a solo homer on the second inning amd Jonathan Aranda had another one in the third.

The Rays lead the AL East by 4 1/2 games over New York and five games over Boston.

The Rays and Mariners play again tonight at 9:50 p.m. at T-Mobile. Griffin Jax (6-9) will start for the Rays against George Kirby (8-9).

Thursday, 4 a.m.

They don't win a lot. They don't shut opponents down a lot.

But say one thing for the Colorado Rockies. Those guys can score.

That was the impressive thing about the Rays' 4-0 win over the Rockies at Coors Field Wednesday. Even while losing the first two games of their series with the Rays, the Rockies scored 16 times.

Then came Nick Martinez and the guys, who shut out the Rockies on six hits Tuesday. Martinez threw 5 2/3 innings of shutout balll. Newly acquired Taylor Wells, Garrett Cleavinger and Cameron Booser all threw a shutout inning to finish it off.

The Rays' pitchers shut out Colorado in their last 16 innings.

Victor Mesa had two triples and a sacrifice bunt to lead the Rays' offense. Junior Caminero hit his 33rd home run of the season.

The Rays are now 22 games above .500.

The Rays are off today, then open a three-game series in Seattle at 9:45 p.m. on Friday. Drew Rasmussen (10-5) will start for the Rays against Logan Gilbert (8-6).

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

In the days to come, the Rays may try to explain exactly how they won Tuesday night's game against the Colorado Rockies.

It's going to take a while.

The Rays, inexplicably, won a 9-7 comeback in 11 innings at Coors Field. The Rays have now scored 22 runs in two games against Colorado, the last-place team of the National League West.

Consider:

The Rays' newly acquired pitcher, Freddy Peralta, continued his struggles. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings and gave up nine hits and seven runs. He blew a 5-1 lead. Peralta gave up a three-run homer and a two-run homer.

The Rays stranded a combined eight haserunners in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings .

So how, exactly, did they win?

Start with a grand slam (and a double) from newly acquired Liam Hicks. Throw in a game-tying two-run single by Jonathan Aranda in the ninth. Add an insurance RBI single by Junior Caminero in the 11th.

Add a terrific night by the bullpen. Six Rays' relievers threw shutout baseball, allowing just two hits over 7 1/3 innings.

Garrett Cleavinger worked his way out of a 10th inning situation where the Rockies had the winning run at third with one out.

Bryan Baker earned his 32nd save.

Hicks, Yandy Diaz, Caminero and Chandler Simpson all had two hits for the Rays. Jake McCarthy had three hits for Colorado.

The teams close out their series today at 3:10 p.m. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against Tomoyuki Sugano.