ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays routed the Houston Astros 14-4 at Tropicana Field on Sunday afternoon to complete a franchise-record 15th sweep of the season and become the first American League team to reach 90 wins.
The victory pushed Tampa Bay to a season-high 31 games over .500 at 90-59, improved the club to 50-25 at the Trop and maintained a four-game lead over the New York Yankees (86-63) in the AL East with 13 games remaining. The Rays swept a three-game series in Atlanta earlier in the week before dispatching the AL West-leading Astros in three straight.
“It’s such a long season. There’s obviously going to be times where you ride the swing a little bit more, and there’s a little bit of maybe a rollercoaster,” starter Griffin Jax said Sunday morning. “But how we’ve been playing recently, just really solid ball in all parts of the game, it’s just been a lot of fun to watch. We just know, coming to the ballpark, we’re going to put a pretty good fight together.”
Starter Freddy Peralta continued his turnaround with Tampa Bay, firing five hitless innings before being pulled with 86 pitches. He walked three batters in the third inning, but third baseman Junior Caminero made a sharp play and throw on a grounder by Isaac Paredes to leave the bases loaded. Paredes ended the no-hit bid with a two-run homer off hard-throwing prospect Brody Hopkins after Peralta exited.
Victor Mesa Jr. took a run at the record books, opening with a two-run triple off Astros starter Hayden Wesneski in the first inning, singling during Tampa Bay’s four-run third and legging out a hustle double in a two-run fourth. Seeking the third cycle in franchise history — and the first since Evan Longoria accomplished the feat against the Astros in 2017 — Mesa flied out to right field in the sixth and struck out swinging in the eighth.
The offense was spread across the lineup. Richie Palacios launched a three-run shot in the third, his 10th of the year. Nick Fortes ripped a two-run shot to left in the fifth. Jonathan Aranda enjoyed his second career multi-homer game, giving him 21 on the season.
Tampa Bay carries its four-game AL East cushion into a 13-game stretch to close the regular season.