A Tampa Bay offense that had recently been slumping gave Baltimore left-hander DL Hall a rough welcome to the major leagues and Shane McClanahan had a bounce-back game as the Rays defeated the Orioles 8-2 on Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Randy Arozarena had an RBI double, and Isaac Paredes added two RBIs for Tampa Bay, which entered the game with a 7-12 record since the All-Star break.
The Rays had been held to three runs or less runs in 12 of their last 18 games but wasted no time scoring on Saturday. Yu Chang walked on four pitches to open the first inning, Arozarena singled and Chang went on to score on a groundout by Paredes.
After Baltimore took a 2-1 lead in the second inning, the Rays responded with what — by their recent standard has been — was an offensive explosion by scoring three runs in the third inning.
Arozarena tied the game when he doubled to score Yandy Diaz. Paredes then hit a double to left field to score Arozarena as the Rays took a 3-2 lead. Francisco Mejia’s soft line drive to left drove in Arozarena to put Tampa Bay up 4-2.
Chang gave the Rays a 5-2 edge and ended Hall’s outing when his sacrifice fly scored Jose Siri in the fourth inning. Baltimore’s first-round pick in the 2017 draft lasted only 3 2/3 innings.
Hall (0-1) gave up five runs on five hits. He also had trouble with his command, walking three.
Chang also singled home a run in the sixth and Taylor Walls pushed Tampa Bay’s lead to 8-2 with a two-run home run in the eighth.
McClanahan (11-5) might not have been as dominant as he was before the All-Star break, but he was more than good enough as Tampa Bay ended a three-game losing streak. The left-hander went six innings while allowing two runs on seven hits.
McClanahan also struck out four to improve to a perfect 5-0 against Baltimore in his career.
Rougned Odor and Robinson Chirinos each finished with two hits and an RBI for the Orioles.
–Field Level Media
