Taylor Walls and Ben Rortvedt drove in two runs apiece in a breakout four-run sixth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays grounded the Seattle Mariners 11-3 Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Walls, who went 3-for-4, tripled in two runs before scoring on a homer by Rortvedt (2-for-3, four RBIs, walk) to give the Rays a 6-2 lead.
Yandy Diaz homered and stretched his on-base streak to 27 games, while Richie Palacios was 2-for-4 with a double, three runs, an RBI, a walk and a stolen base.
Isaac Paredes hit a two-run homer, and Jose Siri had an RBI single, two runs and three walks.
Rays starter Zack Littell yielded two runs on four hits, struck out six and issued a walk. Garrett Cleavinger (5-1) pitched a perfect sixth with two strikeouts.
Seattle’s Ty France went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs, and Mitch Garver popped his 10th home run.
Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo (6-9) fired 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs on five hits. He struck out four and walked four.
Just as he did against Pittsburgh Pirates phenom hurler Paul Skenes on Sunday, Diaz ambushed Castillo on his first pitch, launching a drive above the left field foul pole for his seventh homer.
The estimated 397-foot blast pushed Diaz’s hitting streak to a career-high 18 games and gave him a seven-game RBI streak. It was his fourth leadoff home run thus far — the last three coming on the first offering.
The home side continued to pepper Castillo in the second with three straight hits. Palacios led off with double and scored on Siri’s RBI single for a 2-0 advantage.
France belted a two-run home run to left-center off Littell after Jorge Polanco opened the fifth with a single. The first baseman’s eighth long ball made it a 2-all tie.
After Castillo walked two batters to open the sixth, Walls hit Mike Baumann’s first pitch for his first triple of the year past diving right fielder Dominic Canzone.
Rortvedt, the next batter, made it 6-2 with his third homer to right-center, 392 feet away.
Leading off the seventh, Garver trimmed the deficit on his second homer of the series, but Palacios answered with an RBI single before Rortvedt drove in two more in a three-run frame.
Paredes homered in the eighth to complete Tampa Bay’s season-high run total.
–Field Level Media