Rays jumpstart reset with 'big time' win over Yanks

ST. PETERSBURG -- After the Rays stalled out and got swept by the Rangers over the weekend at Globe Life Field, Josh Lowe suggested the Rays simply needed to move on.

More specifically, the outfielder said Sunday afternoon in Arlington, “We just need to completely forget that we came to Texas and go back home and play some good baseball.”

They may not have totally cleared that forgettable series from their memory banks, but they hit reset at the beginning of a big week at Tropicana Field. All-Star Isaac Paredes hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Ryan Pepiot put together a strong start and the Rays bounced back with a 5-3 win over the struggling Yankees.

“It's big time. I mean, obviously, three games in Texas didn't go our way. But it's baseball. Those things happen,” Pepiot said after the Rays pulled back within a game of .500, at 45-46. “We were able to start the series off with a win. You can't ask for anything more than that.”

The Rays rolled into Texas on Friday night having won five consecutive series, only to see their offense sputter as they scored just five runs on 15 hits in their three straight losses. They can hardly afford many more setbacks, as they’re 5 1/2 games out of the third American League Wild Card spot with the Trade Deadline looming at the end of the month.

“The Texas series, hopefully, was a blip on us getting this thing turned around. We’ve got six games against tough opponents here at home going into the break, then a big road trip out of the break,” said president of baseball operations Erik Neander, who has traded veteran pitchers Aaron Civale and Phil Maton over the last week. “There is an urgency to every day for the last few months now, truly, just trying to … get us to where we believe this team can and should be. That’s our focus for now.”

The Rays looked more like that team as they got to Yankees starter Carlos Rodón quickly in Tuesday’s series opener, scoring four runs in the first inning for the first time all season.

Yandy Díaz, Randy Arozarena and Amed Rosario strung together three straight hits to lead off the first against Rodón. Up came Paredes, still basking in the glow of being named a first-time All-Star on Sunday. The third baseman showed why he earned that honor in his first at-bat since it became official, ripping a three-run shot to left field to put the Rays ahead, 4-1.

“Pretty big for him. Big for us,” manager Kevin Cash said. “That was a cool moment that he had the off-day to enjoy, and then he comes in and backs it up with that big swing.”

Pepiot gave up a run in a shaky 21-pitch first inning but didn’t allow anything else over 5 2/3 innings. It was a welcome return to the win column for Pepiot, who had been 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA over his last five starts and hadn’t won a game since June 4 in Miami.

The early run support certainly helped.

“Definitely just settled me down,” Pepiot said. “It's just my job to go out there and continue to make pitches and get us back in here so they can continue that.”

This victory came in a somewhat unusual way for Pepiot, however.

Much of Pepiot’s success this season has been a product of his fastball, with opponents batting just .134 against his four-seamer. Meanwhile, opponents entered the night hitting .324 with a .603 slugging percentage against his changeup, which had been his best pitch the past two years.

But the offspeed pitch was a difference-maker against the Yankees, who fell to 5-16 since June 15. They whiffed on seven of their 16 swings against Pepiot’s changeup, which finished six of his seven strikeouts and 12 of his 17 outs overall on the night.

“They were fouling off all the high fastballs that I threw,” Pepiot said. “Seeing that, I just was able to use the same arm speed and sell the changeup and get some swing-and-miss and some weak contact later on the second, third time through the lineup.”

Getting better as the game progressed, Pepiot stuck around long enough to throw a career-high 101 pitches and get two outs in the sixth. Reliever Kevin Kelly finished the inning, then Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks finished the game after Colin Poche gave up a two-run homer to Ben Rice in the seventh.

“I wanted the last guy. I wanted to finish the inning,” Pepiot said, smiling. “But KK came in and picked me up and got the quick out, so hats off to him.”