Drury (2 HRs, 5 RBIs) on a mission to finish strong

ST. PETERSBURG -- Brandon Drury’s season has been up and down, filled with the highs of individual milestones and the lows of missing 27 games due to injury.

“A lot of hot and cold streaks,’’ Drury said. “I’d like to finish strong.’’

Wednesday night could be the start of a memorable finish. Drury was 3-for-5 with two home runs and five RBIs, helping the Angels beat the Rays, 8-3, at Tropicana Field and snap their six-game losing streak.

“Anytime you win a big league baseball game, it feels good, especially if it’s against a good team,’’ said Drury, who had the fifth multihomer game of his career. “Now we’re looking to come in tomorrow [Thursday afternoon] and win the series.’’

It was a damaging defeat for the Rays, who were unable to pick up ground in the American League East race after the Orioles lost to the Astros. Tampa Bay was beaten despite striking out 19 Angels batters, tying a Rays record for a nine-inning game.

“We scored eight [runs], so I’ll take the 19 [strikeouts], I guess,’’ Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “It wasn’t exactly pretty, but we got it done.

“We don’t look at it like we’re trying to ruin anyone’s year, but we owe it to everybody in the game to play hard and play to win. I like the way our guys are going about their business.’’

The Angels built a 6-0 cushion with a four-run second inning off Rays starter Aaron Civale. It was highlighted by Zach Neto’s RBI double and Drury’s three-run homer, when he golfed a 3-0 pitch high and just inside the left-field foul pole.

It was a welcome advantage for Angels left-hander Reid Detmers, who made his second career start against the Rays; the other was a no-hitter on May 10, 2022. Detmers didn’t qualify for the win because he was lifted after the fourth inning with 96 pitches (59 strikes), leaving the decision for reliever Andrew Wantz.

“That [6-0 lead] gave us a little breathing room for the starting pitcher,’’ Nevin said. “It’s tough to pitch when you feel like you’ve got to be perfect all the time. Reid’s pitch count went up, but we didn’t help him defensively. We grinded through it, and the bullpen did a good job.’’

It was bad timing for Detmers, who was averaging 3.46 runs of support per nine innings, the lowest in the AL (130-inning minimum). This time, he was staked to an early 6-0 lead, but a high pitch count derailed his shot at the decision.

“I got into some big counts and long innings, but I was able to get out of it without any damage,’’ Detmers said.

Drury provided a two-run tack-on homer in the sixth, putting the Angels up, 8-1. Drury has 23 homers and 75 RBIs.

“The thing with him [Drury] is he’s kind of being asked to carry the load with everybody gone,’’ said Nevin, pointing out the injuries to Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon. “Put some good hitters around him and he’s going to put up even bigger numbers. Now he’s putting up some huge numbers without that [support], and that’s pretty impressive.’’