Tampa Bay 13, Oakland 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, June 9, 2017
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Jeff Nelson, 1B -
Lazaro Diaz, 2B -
Doug Eddings, 3B -
Cory Blaser
Attendance:
13153
By The Sports Xchange
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Over the next two months, the Tampa Bay Rays will look to Mallex Smith to replace injured center fielder Kevin Kiermaier.
So far, the Rays look to be in pretty good hands.
Smith hit a home run, reached base three times and scored three runs as the Rays routed the Oakland Athletics 13-4 on Friday night at Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay (32-31) also had home runs from Steven Souza Jr., Tim Beckham, Logan Morrison and Corey Dickerson while starter Alex Cobb (5-5) gave up one run over six innings.
"The team has been playing good," Smith said. "They are still in the race. The division is very tight so I just wanted to come in here and play my game and stay within myself."
Souza went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and was a double short of a cycle. Jesus Sucre also had three hits and two RBIs.
"We've talked about the bats coming to life and they certainly did," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Everybody seemed to play a pretty big role. We had a lot of good swings. All the guys really contributed.
"We can be a pretty dynamic offense with (Smith) performing that way. I know he's not going to hit a home run every night and get on base every time, but just the way he approached his at bats was pretty impressive so that's great to see."
Athletics starter Andrew Triggs (5-6) lost his fourth consecutive start.
Stephen Vogt homered for Oakland (26-34) while Khris Davis and Adam Rosales each had RBI hits.
The Rays, who hit four home runs Thursday against the Chicago White Sox, continued using the long ball Friday to get to Triggs early and often.
Souza gave the Rays a 3-0 lead with a three-run shot in the first inning.
Tampa Bay added runs in the second and third innings to make it 5-0. Sucre had an RBI double in the second while Colby Rasmus knocked an RBI single in the third.
That was more than enough for Cobb, who threw 96 pitches and struck out five.
"I was able to get in a fastball on both sides of the plate," Cobb said. "I showed that early and then expanded out of the zone a little bit with some off-speed pitches."
Smith, called up from Triple-A Durham on Friday afternoon, hit his first home run of the season -- a two-run blast to right field in the fourth. Morrison made it 8-0 with a solo homer to right later in the inning.
Triggs gave up eight runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. He threw 88 pitches, 54 for strikes.
"Everything was up (in the zone)," Triggs said. "I could pinpoint only a handful of pitches where I was really happy with the execution. It really needs to be the flip where you can only think of a handful where you really missed. Walking a leadoff guy, two walks, leads to a three-run home run. That can't happen."
Athletics reliever Zach Neal didn't fare any better as the Rays tagged him for five runs in the fifth. Beckham hit a solo shot to straight-away center, his 10th of the season. Dickerson added a three-run homer in the inning while Sucre had his second RBI hit of the game to make it 13-0.
"We've had some really bad stretches and this is probably the worst game, at least from the start, we've had this year," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. "Our road record is not that great."
NOTES: Rays OF Kevin Kiermaier was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right hip fracture. Kiermaier, a two-time Gold Glove winner, will need six to eight weeks before he can resume baseball activities. OF Mallex Smith was called up from Triple-A Durham in a corresponding move. ... Athletics OF Mark Canha was optioned to Triple-A Nashville on Friday. ... The Rays placed 1B Rickie Weeks (right shoulder impingement) on the 10-day DL retroactive to June 7. ... Athletics LF Jaycob Brugman was called up from Nashville and made his MLB debut Friday, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout. ... The Rays acquired INF Taylor Featherston from the Philadelphia Phillies for cash considerations.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Oakland |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Andrew Triggs
|
Player |
Alex Cobb
|
|
Loss |
W/L |
Win |
|
3.2 |
IP |
6.0 |
|
2 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
|
9 |
Hits |
4 |
|
19.64 |
ERA |
1.50 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Oakland
|
6 |
1 |
12 |
.182 |
18 |
10 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
| Tampa Bay
|
15 |
5 |
35 |
.385 |
11 |
6 |
13 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
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