Thursday, 4 a.m.
Suddenly, there is life. That alone, for the Tampa Bay Rays, is amazing.
The Rays, who spent much of the summer refusing to contend in the AL East, are suddenly a ballclub again.
The Rays hammered Seattle, 9-4, on Wednesday night to complete a series sweep. They have now won six straight games, and are once again within 2 1/2 games of the final Wild Card playoff spot. They finally have a winning record again.
It was as lopsided a victory as the Rays have had. They scored eight runs on 10 hits in the first two innings. For the game, they had a season-high 19 hits.
Chief among those was Yandy Diaz, who was five-for-five on the night. Diaz is now hitting .294 on the season. Diaz was the first Ray to have five hits in a game since 2019.
Also hitting .294 is Chandler Diaz, who had three hits. Jake Mangum also had three hits and is hitting .293.
With two hits were Junior Caminero, Josh Lowe and Hunter Feduccia. The Rays were eight-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
The Rays got a strong start from Adrian Houser, who went seven innings and allowed only four hits. One of those, however, was a three-run homer by Julio Rodriguez to make it closer for the Mariners.
The Rays open a four-game series against Cleveland tonight at 7:35 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field. Ryan Pepiot will start for the Rays against Logan Allen.