ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays are putting together one of the best starts ever.
The Rays routed the Oakland Athletics 11-0 Sunday to improve to 9-0 as Drew Rasmussen combined on a one-hitter and Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam. Tampa Bay is the first team to win its first nine games since the 2003 Kansas City Royals.
“Essentially, everything is going exactly the way that we want to,” Lowe said. “This is incredible baseball that we’re playing.”
Tampa Bay has outscored opponents 75-18, scoring the most runs in the big leagues and allowing the fewest.
“It just opens things up,” Rasmussen said of the Rays’ offense. “The way they’re going right now, it’s unbelievable.”
The Rays have won every game by four or more runs, trailing only a 13-game run by the 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association as the longest at a season’s start. The streak is the longest at any point of a season since 10 by the 1939 New York Yankees.
The longest winning streak at a season’s start is 13 by the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers.
Oakland has lost seven of nine. The Athletics were outscored 22-0 in the final two games of the series and limited to four hits, dropping their batting average to .192. The team ERA jumped from 7.00 to 7.54.
The Athletics run differential of minus-45 through nine games is the third worse since 1900, only behind the 1955 Kansas City Athletics (minus-55) and the 1988 Baltimore Orioles (minus-48).
“I think we’ve got to put this series behind us,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’ll talk about it, how we get better going forward.”
Wander Franco and Harold Ramírez also homered for the Rays, who have hit a big league-leading 24 long balls.
Rasmussen (2-0) allowed his only runner on Ramon Laureano’s two-out double in the second and has given up three hits over 13 scoreless innings in two starts. He struck out eight and walked none.
Ryan Thompson got three straight outs, and Jason Adam worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth.
James Kaprielian (0-1) allowed seven runs, seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings. Oakland pitchers walked seven and hit two batters.
“It’s fundamentals that we’re failing at right now,” Kotsay said. “Again, today we walk seven, hit two, so the storyline here is we need to be better on the mound as well.”
Lowe’s drive was the only hit in the fourth to leave the infield as Tampa Bay took a 5-0 lead.
Isaac Paredes was hit by pitch starting the fourth, and Ramírez was credited with a single when third baseman Jace Peterson looked at second after fielding a ball and threw late to first.
Christian Bethancourt reached on a two-out fielder’s choice when Ramírez beat Aledmys Díaz’s throw to second base from deep in the shortstop hole. Lowe then connected for his third career slam.
BLUE JAYS 12, ANGELS 11, 10 INNINGS
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Tim Mayza retired Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded for the final out, and Toronto got five RBIs apiece from Matt Chapman and No. 9 hitter Kevin Kiermaier.
Chapman, who leads the majors with a .475 batting average, hit a grand slam in the sixth. Kiermaier doubled home the tiebreaking run against Carlos Estevez (0-1) in the 10th for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 6-0 deficit and wasted a 10-6 lead.
Ohtani hit one of Los Angeles’ four homers, but he grounded out to end it as Toronto took two of three in the series and finished 6-4 on its season-opening trip.
Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Drury and Logan O’Hoppe also went deep for the Angels.
Jordan Romano (1-0) got the win and Mayza got his first save.
YANKEES 5,
ORIOLES 3
BALTIMORE (AP) — Aaron Judge homered twice and Nestor Cortes (2-0) allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings after umpires forced him to blot out a marking on his glove.
Judge hit solo homers in the third inning off Tyler Wells (0-1) and the eighth off Logan Gillaspie for his 28th multihomer game and first this season. Judge is batting .364 and has four homers in nine games after hitting his fourth in the 17th game last year en route to an American League-record 62.
Franchy Cordero also went deep for the Yankees, who have homered in their first nine games for the fourth time. Off to a 6-3 start, New York has won its first three series for just the third time in 20 years.
Clay Holmes got his third save.
PIRATES 1,
WHITE SOX 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz fractured his left ankle in a home-plate collision with catcher Seby Zavala in the sixth inning.
Johan Oviedo (1-0) allowed five hits — all singles — and struck out five in 6 2/3 innings as Pittsburgh won for the fifth time in six games.
Canaan Smith-Njigba tripled in the second and scored on Jack Suwinski’s sacrifice fly off Michael Kopech (0-2).
David Bednar worked around a two-out single by Gavin Sheets in the ninth for his fourth save.
RED SOX 4, TIGERS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Triston Casas homered and hit an RBI double as Boston finished a three-game sweep, outscoring Detroit 24-9.
Kutter Crawford (1-1) allowed one run and five hits in five innings and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his second save. Detroit loaded the bases with one out, but Zach McKinstry flied out and Akil Baddoo struck out.
Red Sox outfielder Adam Duvall, hitting .455 with four homers and 14 RBIs, left in the ninth after injuring his left wrist while diving for Spencer Torkelson’s bloop single.
Matthew Boyd (0-1) yielded two runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings as Detroit fell to 2-7.
REDS 6, PHILLIES 4
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jake Fraley hit a bases-clearing double in the ninth off Seranthony Domínguez (0-1) to overcome a 4-3 deficit as Cincinnat avoided a three-game sweep.
Alec Bohm hit a two-run homer for the Phillies.
Kevin Herget (1-0) tossed two innings of scoreless relief and Ian Gibaut struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first save.
ASTROS 5, TWINS 1
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Chas McCormick had four RBIs and Hunter Brown (1-1) allowed an unearned run and two hits in seven innings, combining on a two-hitter as Houston salvaged the series finale.
The defending World Series champions are 4-6 after winning for just the second time in seven games.
Tyler Mahle (1-1) gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings.
BREWERS 6, CARDINALS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Willy Adames went 3 of 4 with a homer, double and three RBIs.
Adames hit a two-run double in the third inning and a solo shot in the fifth off Jake Woodford (0-2).
Christian Yelich also had three hits and a solo homer as the Brewers won two of three from the Cardinals in a matchup between the past two NL Central champions.
Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (2-0) struck out seven and gave up one run, four hits and three walks in six innings.
