Rays cap historic month with 9th straight W

ST. PETERSBURG -- With 30 games to go, the Rays are right where they want to be.

The Rays scored early and held on late in an 8-5 victory Tuesday night at Tropicana Field against a Red Sox team reeling with COVID-19 cases. Riding Ryan Yarbrough’s strong six-inning start and capitalizing on Boston’s mistakes, they punctuated a 21-win month of August by extending the Majors’ longest active winning streak to nine games.

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The Rays, who went 22-6 in May, are the first team since the 2002 “Moneyball” A’s to have two calendar months with at least 21 wins in the same season. Those two months rank among the three best in club history, by winning percentage, and they’re on pace to break the franchise record of 97 wins set during their breakthrough 2008 season.

This stretch has boosted the Rays’ record to 84-48 overall, a franchise-record 36 games over .500 and tied with the Giants for the best mark in the Majors heading into the final full month of the season.

“We're going to continue to work,” infielder Yandy Díaz said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “The only thing that's missing in our team is the World Series championship.”

That might sound like a lofty goal, but it’s where the defending American League champions’ focus has been since Spring Training. And with the stretch run looming, they’re playing some of their best baseball at the right time.

The Rays have won 13 of their last 14 games and 24 of their last 30. Their eight-game lead in the AL East over the second-place Yankees is the largest in team history, and they'll roll into September having led the division for 32 straight days while owning the AL’s best record for 26 days in a row.

“I feel like we're playing really good baseball right now, but you can't really take that for granted. We still have a lot of games left,” Yarbrough said. “I feel like we have that mentality of we're hungry, and we're just having a lot of fun right now. So we've just got to continue that.”

More of the same wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Rays right now.

Always built on run prevention, the Rays have emerged as the Majors’ highest-scoring offense with 710 runs on the year. They’ve scored at least eight runs in 18 of 35 games since veteran DH Nelson Cruz arrived on July 23, with Tuesday the latest such performance.

With one out in the second inning, Randy Arozarena ripped his 18th home run to left field. Then the Rays took advantage of sloppy pitching and defense by the Red Sox in a six-run third highlighted by only three hits: a Wander Franco single that led to two runs scoring, Austin Meadows’ 93rd RBI and a two-run double by Díaz that dropped between a pair of Red Sox.

“We’ve just got a really balanced, thick lineup. It certainly feels that way with the production that’s taken place and the way that we’re able to score runs,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Whether it’s the home run or piecing together an inning with a walk and a single then driving a guy in, a lot of options seem to be available right now.”

Their starting rotation, left without an ace when they lost Tyler Glasnow to Tommy John surgery, is rounding into form. Talented young starters Shane McClanahan and Luis Patiño seem to be gaining confidence every time out. Drew Rasmussen has been an intriguing addition since moving out of the bullpen to start. Michael Wacha has trended in the right direction in his last two outings, and Chris Archer made a healthy return to the mound last Sunday.

And Yarbrough has allowed only four runs in 15 innings over three starts since coming off the COVID-19 related IL on Aug. 18. He gave up a run in the first inning Tuesday on back-to-back hits by J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts, who then left the game due to a positive COVID-19 test. Yarbrough only gave up one more run, on a homer by Kyle Schwarber, and needed only 78 pitches to get through six innings without giving up much hard contact.

“It's definitely a good sign,” Yarbrough said. “Hopefully at this point, just kind of go back to business as usual.”

Left-hander Dietrich Enns gave up three runs (two earned) in the final two innings, forcing high-leverage reliever Andrew Kittredge into action with one out in the ninth. But that was a rare blip for the bullpen with the best ERA in baseball, and Tampa Bay’s relief corps will soon be as close to full strength as it’s been in quite some time.

Right-handers J.P. Feyereisen and Pete Fairbanks impressed in their return from the injured list on Monday night, and recently signed veteran David Robertson will officially join the bullpen -- which has the best ERA in the Majors -- when rosters expand on Wednesday.

“We've kind of been waiting for this for quite some time. I don't know if we've been right in the bullpen all year,” Cash said. “But to a man, you've got to really respect everybody that has played a role and played a part in all this. They've put together a special season down there.”

Their September schedule won’t be easy, starting with Wednesday’s matchup pitting right-hander Rasmussen against Red Sox ace Chris Sale. But they’ve passed every test to this point, and they look ready for what’s next.

“Very happy with the way that we’re playing. I think the guys deserve a lot of credit to get to this point,” Cash said. “We’ve played five months of good baseball. Let’s play a sixth month.”