TAMPA -- The first pitch the Rays' lineup saw on Monday night was a 93.3 mph sinker from Tanner Houck. Yandy Díaz smashed it a projected 415 feet to center field.
Talk about a sign of things to come.
The Rays' lineup erupted for 16 hits in a 16-1 rout of the Red Sox at George M. Steinbrenner Field, a dominant offensive performance highlighted by a nine-run third inning. The margin of victory was tied for the largest in franchise history.
¡°That's about as good as it gets from a team,¡± said outfielder Kameron Misner, who put together his first career multi-homer game. ¡°I mean, can't draw it up any better than that.¡±
It was the 10th time in club history the Rays scored 16 runs or more. They¡¯d never put up 14 runs or 13 hits by the end of the third inning, as they did in their series opener against the Red Sox.
But perhaps the most telling stat was this: For the second time in franchise history, all nine Rays starters had both a run and an RBI, a feat they also accomplished against Seattle on June 30, 2023.
¡°That was a really complete day offensively, obviously,¡± manager Kevin Cash said.
Even before the third inning, it was shaping up to be a pretty nice night at the plate for the Rays.
D¨ªaz became the first player in franchise history to hit a leadoff home run in back-to-back team games with his 18th career leadoff shot and his sixth on the first pitch.
¡°We've said for many years now that he sets the tone for us,¡± Cash said. ¡°There's no better way to set it than knocking the ball out of the ballpark.¡±
The Rays scored four more against Houck in the second, courtesy of a two-run homer by Misner -- a college teammate of Houck¡¯s at Missouri -- and some impressive hustle by Jake Mangum, who scored from first on Brandon Lowe¡¯s two-run single.
As it turned out, they were just getting warmed up.
The Rays ran roughshod over the Red Sox in the third inning, putting up nine runs on eight hits as 14 batters saw a total of 52 pitches over 27 minutes. It was the highest-scoring inning by any team in the Majors this season, and by the time it was over, the Rays had a 14-1 lead -- more runs than they scored in any game last season.
¡°I think when everybody's aggressive and everybody's swinging at the right pitches, we have a lot of good hitters on the team and a lot of guys that make a lot of good decisions at the plate,¡± Misner said. ¡°And whenever that all works together, it's pretty special.¡±
The offensive eruption began with a trio of ground-ball singles by Jonathan Aranda, Christopher Morel and Misner. Taylor Walls then beat a double-play grounder to first base as Aranda scored the first run of the inning.
And the Rays didn¡¯t make another out until Walls¡¯ next trip to the plate, with Danny Jansen, Mangum, D¨ªaz, Junior Caminero, Aranda and Morel driving in runs in between outs.
¡°I think we batted around with one out,¡± starter Shane Baz said. ¡°So that's just ridiculous.¡±
It went on for so long that Baz retreated to a nearby office and threw plyo balls against a wall just to stay loose. The Rays fell two runs short of matching the highest-scoring inning in club history -- they scored 11 in the eighth inning on Aug. 28, 2007 (at Baltimore) and in the eighth on May 28, 2000 (against Seattle).
¡°It was going great,¡± D¨ªaz said through interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. ¡°It was kind of perfect.¡±
But they weren¡¯t quite done after that. In the fifth, Caminero crushed a 1-2 changeup from Fulmer a Statcast-projected 392 feet out to right-center field -- Caminero's third straight day with a home run. And in the eighth, Misner launched another long ball out to right-center off lefty reliever Brennan Bernadino.
¡°I don't know if we're gonna score 15-16 runs [every night], but we've got some guys that can really put together at-bats, and then we've got some guys that can complement by hitting the ball out of the ballpark,¡± Cash said. ¡°And we saw that combination throughout the evening.¡±
That kind of performance at the plate might have overshadowed Baz¡¯s pitching performance, but it shouldn¡¯t be forgotten. Baz (2-0, 1.42 ERA) struck out a career-high 11 batters -- one more than the mark he set in his season debut on April 1 -- while allowing just one run on two hits over six innings.
¡°When you have that lead to work with from the start,¡± Baz said, ¡°it makes it a lot easier to attack hitters and just kind of throw all your stuff in the zone.¡±