TAMPA — Two-time All-Star Drew Rasmussen won his seventh consecutive start, allowing one run on three hits over six innings as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Detroit Tigers and moved the right-hander within two victories of the longest winning streak in franchise history.

Rasmussen (14-5, 2.95 ERA) threw 71 strikes among a season-high 103 pitches with five strikeouts and no walks, matching the longest winning streak by an MLB pitcher this season — equaling Miami’s Sandy Alcantara, who won seven straight from June 1-July 4. Only two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell has done better in Rays history, winning nine straight late in the 2018 season.

“It just speaks [to] the number of ways we can beat teams,” Rasmussen said. “Some days, we scratch out wins, 1-0. Other days, like my last outing, [a 7-6 victory over Toronto]. The offense picked me up that day. The defense picked me up that day.”

Rasmussen retired the last eight batters he faced after the only trouble he encountered in the fourth inning. American League Rookie of the Year candidate Kevin McGonigle lashed a one-out double to left-center and advanced to third on an opposite-field single to right by cleanup hitter Dillon Dingler. Brett Callahan brought home McGonigle with a sacrifice fly to deep center field, but Rasmussen got Zach McKinstry to fly out to center to end the threat.

“He’s done it for a while now and he’s been really, really successful,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “I don’t think there’s any panic at all when the guys get on base. He knows that he’s got to go pitch to pitch and execute the pitch, and you move on to it and go to the next one after you release the ball. He controls his mindset as well as any pitcher that we have, and [we] feel really good when he’s out on the mound in those situations.”

Rasmussen pitches exclusively from the stretch, a habit he traced to his bullpen days. “I was put in the bullpen with Milwaukee in 2020, and I was throwing out of the stretch the entire time there,” Rasmussen said. “So, when I got over here to Tampa and got back into the rotation, I just asked the simple question of, ‘Hey, do you guys mind if I throw out of the stretch the entire time?’ And kudos to our staff; they had no problem with it. The repeatability out of the windup isn’t there … and why add additional moving steps?”

Closer Bryan Baker finished it off with his MLB-leading 38th save, extending his club record with a 27th consecutive save conversion. Tampa Bay chipped away at Detroit starter Framber Valdez, scoring the leadoff hitter in three innings. Yandy Díaz and Ryan Vilade opened the game with consecutive singles before scoring on groundouts from Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda, respectively. Aranda later snapped a 15-game homer drought with his 16th of the season to lead off the sixth.

“I mean, look, we’ve got to get him going,” Cash said of Aranda. “He knows that, and hopefully that’s a good sign of things to come because when he gets hot he can carry a huge load for quite some time. … Now, let’s build off that.”

Second baseman Jorge Mateo doubled to open the fourth, moved to third on a sacrifice by catcher Nick Fortes and scored on Chandler Simpson’s bunt single — McGonigle’s throw home was too late to catch Mateo. Simpson extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in MLB and three short of his career-best 18-gamer, set June 25-July 19, 2025.

“We’ve done that, I feel like, all season long,” Cash said. “I feel that’s who we are offensively, and congrats to Chandler. I want to see him keep going. He gets hits a lot of different ways. He’s a really good hitter that can find ways to bunt — that’s a tough bunt that he put down off Framber. So, a special player.”