The Rays kept the power coming and got a rare complete game from Nick Martinez on Tuesday night, rolling past the Sacramento Athletics 12-4 to move within a win of eight straight.
Junior Caminero wasted no time getting Tampa Bay started. He launched his 35th homer of the year early, and it was his second long ball in as many games. Since August 5, all three of his hits have left the yard.
The scoring kept building from there, with Tampa Bay finding runs in a few different ways before the game turned into a home run parade. Chandler Simpson drove in the Rays’ third run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third, then Taylor Walls opened his account for 2026 with his first homer of the season in the fourth.
On the very next pitch, Yandy Diaz jumped in and took the spotlight right back, crushing his 17th homer. Diaz has now gone deep in back-to-back games and has hit safely eight times in his last three.
Sacramento finally answered in the bottom of the fourth when Lawrence Butler hit a two-run homer. Brady Basso replaced Mason Barnett after that, and he worked a scoreless fifth before Walls struck again.
This time, he homered from the right side, giving him a rare switch-hitting showcase. It was the second time in his major league career that he has homered from both sides of the plate, and he became the first Ray to do that twice.
The Rays kept piling on in the later innings. Victor Mesa, Jr. added a seventh-inning homer off Elvis Alvarado for his 10th of the season, and his production has pushed his wRC+ to 106. Then in the eighth, Carson Williams entered as a pinch hitter for Caminero and blasted his first home run of the season, a 420-foot shot to right center.
Martinez handled the rest, working all nine innings before the A’s scratched out two more runs in the bottom of the ninth. It was only the second complete game of his major league career. It also marked his fourth straight start without a walk, and just his third outing this season in which he allowed more than three runs.
The Rays will try for their ninth win and their third sweep in a row on Wednesday afternoon, with Drew Rasmussen set to start against Jack Perkins.
In Other News...
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White Sox Deadline Fix Has Already Become A Catcher Problem
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Taylor Walls Gave The Rays A Lift They Desperately Needed
Taylor Walls gave Tampa Bay a much-needed jolt against the Athletics, and he did it in a way that stood out even for a player known more for his glove and legs than his power. In his 97th game of the season, the Rays shortstop went deep twice, once from each side of the plate, adding a rare burst of offense to a lineup that had been looking for any kind of lift.
For a player batting .217 this season, the outburst carried extra weight. Walls came into the night with modest power numbers and 18 stolen bases, but his swings helped push the Rays to a 9-2 lead entering the seventh inning, exactly the kind of cushion they have been needing as they try to steady the offense around him. [Read more 🡒]