'A new record every day': Rays improve to 14-0 at home

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays’ unrelenting lineup, resilient pitching and top-notch defense led them to another record-setting victory Monday night at Tropicana Field.

After erasing a two-run deficit in the first inning, the Rays fell behind again in the third, then immediately delivered a four-run counterpunch that sent them on their way to an 8-3 win over the Astros. Tampa Bay has won each of its first 14 home games to begin the year, breaking a tie with the 2009 Dodgers to claim the longest season-opening streak in the AL/NL’s modern era.

• Wander makes barehand catch you have to see to believe

“Hopefully we can continue on to win 14 more, but it shows that we're a good team,” Randy Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “It seems like every time Tampa [Bay] plays, we're breaking records that aren't even records yet. It just happens every day.”

Indeed, the Rays are rewriting the record books seemingly every night. Already, they’ve become the fourth team in AL/NL history to start a season by winning 13 straight, which was also the longest winning streak overall in franchise history. And they were the first team to homer in 22 consecutive games to begin the year, a streak that finally ended with Monday’s homerless performance.

“It's not an obligation for us to hit a home run in order for us to win the game,” Wander Franco said through Navarro. “But in all aspects of the game, we're all playing really well, and it's showing.”

And it’s putting the Rays in historic company. At 20-3, they are just the seventh team in the modern era to win at least 20 of its first 23 games; only two clubs, the 1911 Tigers and 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, have started better. Tampa Bay’s plus-92 run differential is the best through 23 games in AL/NL history, surpassing the plus-88 mark of the 1902 Pirates.

The Rays have outscored their opponents, 102-34, when playing under their home dome this season. Their 14-game home winning streak is tied with the 1885 Chicago White Stockings for the longest such run in AL/NL history. The longest streak belongs to the 1880 White Stockings, at 21 games.

“You look on the scoreboard, and it seems like there's a new record broken every day,” said starter Taj Bradley, who battled to pitch five innings and earn his third win in as many starts. “Oh, the home run record. Now, the most wins at home or the most wins in a row in Rays history. … So it's like, what's tomorrow?”

Bradley allowed a leadoff triple to Mauricio Dubón, who scored on a sacrifice fly, and a solo homer to Alex Bregman. But the Rays answered right away, as Franco singled and scored on a triple by Arozarena, who deftly avoided Bregman’s tag with a slick swim move. Harold Ramírez doubled to right with two outs to tie it up.

Jeremy Peña homered off Bradley to begin the third, but the Rays had an even bigger response in store for Astros starter José Urquidy as they sent nine men to the plate in the bottom half of the inning. Yandy Díaz singled, Franco doubled and Arozarena swatted a sacrifice fly to right to tie it.

Ramírez and Isaac Paredes worked back-to-back two-out walks to load the bases. Josh Lowe then fell behind, 0-2, but stayed alive by fouling off three pitches. He slapped a grounder up the middle, fielded by Dubón, but used his long strides to reach safely on an RBI infield single.

“Josh has got a good chance, with his speed, to beat it out,” manager Kevin Cash said. “I know that's what [hitting coach Chad Mottola] talks about with all these guys: Do everything you can just to hang in there. It felt like we did that really well.”

Christian Bethancourt further capitalized after swinging at pitches outside the zone to also fall behind, 0-2. Bethancourt fouled off another pitch, then smacked a sweeper into center field for a two-run single.

“Every night, it seems like we're just putting up a lot of good at-bats. We're making pitchers work, and we're getting timely hits,” Cash said. “When you do that, I think you can describe that as relentless.”

The Rays proved it the rest of the night. Franco made an unbelievable barehanded grab down the left-field line in the fifth. Brandon Lowe redeemed a five-strikeout night with a spectacular diving stop up the middle in the seventh. Paredes drove in an insurance run in the sixth, and Franco did the same in the seventh.

“I think everyone's just doing their job,” Arozarena said through Navarro. “We're also going up there with a lot of confidence, and it shows with the way we're winning games.”