ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays rode a six-run fourth inning to their sixth consecutive victory, completing a sweep of the Oakland Athletics and dropping their magic number for the AL East title to six with 10 games remaining.
The big inning came against A’s southpaw Jeffrey Springs. With one out and the bases loaded, lefty batter Chandler Simpson lined a two-run single to center to get Tampa Bay on the board. Simpson went 2-for-4 on the afternoon, pushing his average to .311 to take the American League batting title lead over Houston’s Yordan Alvarez at .310.
After Ryan Vilade was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Richie Palacios lined a double past right fielder Lawrence Butler, scoring two runs. Vilade then dashed for the plate when the throw home skipped away from catcher Jonah Heim, sliding head-first onto the unoccupied dish as Palacios moved up to third. Tampa Bay holds a five-game advantage over the Yankees along with the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Starter Drew Rasmussen picked up his 15th win of the year, coasting through five scoreless innings on 76 pitches — 51 strikes — and lowering his ERA to 2.72. The victory extended the Rays’ winning streak in Rasmussen’s starts to 11 consecutive games, tying the franchise record for the longest such streak. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rays also won 11 consecutive Matt Moore starts from Sept. 22, 2012, through May 19, 2013.
The sweep was Tampa Bay’s 16th of the season, extending an already existing franchise record. It matches the most sweeps in a single season by any team since the Dodgers had 16 in 2022 and is the most by an American League club since the 2019 Astros recorded 17.