Thursday, 4 a.m.

The Tampa Bay Rays got their work in early. Late, they sweated.

The Rays scored twice in the first inning and twice in the second, jumping to a 4-0 lead.

Sure, if you want to quibble, the Rays managed only three more hits the rest of the game. The Athletics whittled the lead down to one run, but the bullpen held there for a 4-3 win at Tropicana Field.

The Rays improved their lead over the Yankees to 4 1/2 games in the AL East.

Nick Martinez won his 15th game (15-4) for the Rays. Cam Booser and Cole Susler both threw shutout innings in the eighth and ninth. Susler recorded his third save of the year.

The Rays hit five doubles in the game to lead their attack. Chandler Simpson -- who now leads in the American League in hitting with a .310 average --- and Jonny DeLuca each had two hits.

The Rays and A’s close out their series today st 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Drew Rasmussen (14-5) will start against former Ray Jeffrey Springs (4-13).

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Ditto.

Turns out, Junior Caminero liked this game-winning-hero role so much, he chose to do it again four games later.

Last Friday, Caminero launched his 40th home run in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game to pull out a 3-2 win over the Astros. Tuesday, he did it again. He hit 41st home run in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 2-1 win over the Athletics at Tropicana Field.

Caminero now has two walk-offs in his career. And the talk of him perhaps snatching the AL MVP award over Yordan Alvarez is growing louder.

Caminero hit the third pitch he saw into the right field stands. It was the team's fourth straight victory and their sixth in seven games.

The Rays didn't hit much in this one, but they had excellent pitching. Griffin Jax started and threw five innings of two-hit, shutout baseball. The Rays' bullpen of Ty Johnson, Cam Booser, Kevin Kelly and Bryan Baker allowed just one run, that coming on a wild pitch by Johnson.

Baker got the win for the Rays to move to 3-2.

Chandler Simpson had three of the Rays' six hits. He also scored on a passed ball in the second.

The Rays and A's play again tonight at 6:40 at Tropicana Field. Nick Martinez (14-4) will start for the Rays against Brady Basso (1-2).

Monday, 4 a.m.

The game was there for the taking. All the Tampa Bay Bucs had to do was reach out and grab it.

And Baker Mayfield dropped it.

Again and again.

Mayfield, the Bucs' fabulously rich quarterback, fumbled three times in the Bucs' 33-27 loss to Cincinnati in the season opener for both teams Sunday.

The Bucs fumbled four times in all in their loss, never giving themselves a chance to win. Mayfield also threw an interception that was called back because of a penalty.

On the day, Mayfield hit 23 of 28 passes. But he was sacked four times and had the problem with turnovers.

The Bucs didn't show as much improvement as they had hoped. Rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter had 11 tackles, a sack and returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown.

But the new pass rush sacked Joe Burrow only once (Trotter). The secondary allowed 25 completions in 35 attempts. The defensive line gave up 106 yards rushing. The offensive line struggled throughout the day.

The Rays did get a bit of a break. The rest of the teams in NFC South all lost. New Orleans fell in overtime to Detroit, the Falcons lost to the Steelers and Carolina fell to Chicago.

The Bucs are home on Sunday at 2 p.m. against the Cleveland Browns.