Junior Caminero went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run, Joe Boyle threw five no-hit innings and the Tampa Bay Rays posted an 8-3 victory over the visiting Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
Boyle (1-0) retired the first 13 Atlanta hitters of the game, and allowed two runs — both unearned — while striking out seven and walking two. Yandy Diaz also homered for Tampa Bay, which took two of three from Atlanta.
Chris Sale (0-2) allowed six hits on four runs (three earned) over 4 1/3 innings, while striking out seven and walking three. Ozzie Albies tallied a pair of hits and an RBI for Atlanta, which dropped its 11th game in 15 tries to begin the season.
Diaz began the game’s scoring with a 392-foot solo homer in the bottom of the first, his second of the season. After Caminero singled in the same inning, Jose Caballero doubled Tampa Bay’s lead with an RBI single to center.
Caballero walked to lead off the bottom of the fourth, before stealing second and scoring on Coco Montes’ single to right field.
Atlanta got its first base runner in the fifth, when Albies worked a one-out walk. After stealing second, Albies was stranded as Jarred Kelenic’s flyout ended the inning.
Diaz walked and Curtis Mead was hit by a pitch to begin the bottom of the fifth, and Christopher Morel’s RBI single two batters later extended the Rays’ lead to 4-0 and chased Sale from the game.
To open the sixth inning, Boyle hit Nick Allen, who stole second and advanced to third on Tampa Bay catcher Danny Jansen’s throwing error. Boyle’s day then came to a close after walking Eli White. From there, Michael Harris II’s forceout scored Atlanta’s first run.
Rays reliever Mason Montgomery struck out Austin Riley, but Marcell Ozuna then reached on Caminero’s fielding error and Matt Olson followed with an RBI single, cutting the Braves’ deficit to 4-2 on the club’s first hit of the game.
Albies tacked on another run-scoring single, before Montgomery retired Sean Murphy to end the frame.
Jake Mangum singled and stole second against Atlanta reliever Pierce Johnson, before Taylor Walls walked and Johnson was replaced by Enyel De Los Santos. After Jonathan Aranda singled in Mangum, Caminero launched his third homer of the season — a three-run shot to push Tampa Bay’s lead to 8-3.
–Field Level Media
