Cron had four hits, including a homer./KEVIN LILES, Atlanta Braves
Thursday, 4 a.m.
Turns out, C.J. and his Cronies are still hot.
One night after taking a time-out from their winning streak, the Tampa Bay Rays were at it again Wednesday night, beating the Atlanta Braves 8-5 for their ninth win in 10 games.
The Rays were hot offensively, getting 12 hits, two of them on home runs by C.J. Cron and Tommy Pham. Cron, who hit his 25th, was four-for-five.
In their last 10 games, the Rays have averaged 10.6 hits and 5.4 runs per game. The Rays are now 71-62. If they go 10-19 the rest of
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Beeks got the win for the Rays to go to 4-1./KEVIN LILES, Atlanta Braves
the season, it would give manager Kevin Cash his first .500 season. If they go 12-18, he has his first winning season. And if they go 19-10, they would finish at 90-72, which would be their sixth 90-win season of the last 11.
"Cron had a huge day for us," Cash said. "We're starting to get a lot of contributions. Tommy Pham -- we're starting to see how special he can be for us at the plate. We had a lot of good at bats."
Pham, Willy Adames, Joey Wendle and Carlos Gomez all had two hits for the Rays.
Tampa Bay had to wait it out for the victory. The game began with a 41-minute rain delay was interrupted for 1:06 during it.
That didn't affect the Rays a lot. Jalen Beeks went three scoreless innings -- the most of the six Rays' pitchers -- of scoreless innings.
"He was okay," Cash said. "The strike-throwing was a bit of a struggle. We've got to find that comfort level where Jalen can get on the mound and get into a rhythm and really control the strike zone. He made some big pitches when he had to. But he put himself in some of those jams."
The Rays scored three times in the first inning with two out, then gave three back to the Braves with two out. But the Rays scored five more times between the third and the fifth to take over the game.
The Rays now travel to Cleveland for a three-game series with the Indians beginning Friday. Tyler Glasnow pitches for the Rays against Cleveland ace Corey Kluber, 16-7 this year. Game time is 7:10 p.m.
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