Saturday, 4 a.m.
Losing streak? What losing streak?
Fall through the standings? What fall?
Disappointment? What disappointment?
The Tampa Bay Rays, struggling mightily lately, started the post-All-Star segment of their schedule with a bang Friday night. The Rays throttled the Baltimore Orioles, 11-1, to help shake off whatever still lingered from their 4-12 finish to the first-half of the year.
How convincing was it?
— Starter Taj Bradley, whose name has been mentioned in a potential trade lately, was dominating. He pitched six innings of shutout ball, allowing just three hits. Bradley, now 6-6 on the season, has allowed just one earned run in his last two starts (12 innings).
— All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero hit two home runs, giving him 25 on the season. He had three hits.
— Designated hitter Yandy Diaz also had three hits. One of them was a grand slam in the sixth inning. That gave him 15 home runs on the season.
— Outfielder Chandler Simpson also had three hits. He extended his rookie franchise record of 17 straight games with a hit.
The Orioles didn’t score until two were out in the ninth inning. As a team, they had just five hits — three by Colin Cowser and two by Gunnar Henderson.
The Rays and Orioles play again tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field. Zack Littell will start for the Rays against Dean Kremer.