Sunday, 4 a.m.
The Tampa Bay Rays haven’t had an offensive explosion since, oh, two games ago.
But pitching? It was a performance that was four years in the making.’
The Rays had observers reaching for the record book in a 16-3 clubbing of the Houston Astros. It was the second lopsided win in three days for the Rays, who flogged the Astros 13-3 on Thursday night.
This one was even better. The Rays had 12 extra base hits and 18 total hits in the game. They led 4-3 going into the sixth inning, but scored a dozen more times in their last four at bats.
Junior Caminero continued his hot hitting, slugging two homers and two doubles and driving in five (he drove in six on Thursday). In his last nine games, Caminero is hitting .432 with five homers and 17 RBI.
Yandy Diaz and Josh Lowe had three hits. Junior Caminero and Jake Mangum had two.
Mangum hit his first major league homer.
Ah, but it wasn’t all hitting for the Rays. Zack Littell threw his team’s first complete game in four years, spreading nine hits across nine innings to even his record at 5-5. If that’s not impressive, remember that Littell was 0-5 at one point in the season.
The Rays are 30-28 on the season.
They finish their four-game series at Houston today at 2:10 p.m. Taj Bradley will start for the Rays against Hunter Brown.