Early on, this game had the feeling of a barn burner. A pair of 85-win teams, both atop their divisions, clashing in Atlanta. Heading into the second inning, both teams had already scored and the game was tied at one. Both starting pitchers looked shaky in the first and it felt like we were headed towards an 11-10 final score. It would just come down to which bullpen could put up a zero first.
Instead, after a lengthy first inning, Freddy Peralta put up a zero in the second inning and the four innings that followed. AJ Smith-Shawver, the Braves starter, was less fortunate and was unable to make it out of the fourth. Instead of a barn burner, it became a boat race in favor of the Rays. The AL East leading and American League best Rays out pitched, out slugged, and out defended the NL East Braves to the tune of a 7-1 victory.
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Junior Caminero got the party started in the first inning when he launched is league-leading 39th homer of the year. The monstrous blast traveled 455 feet and deep into the right field stands to give the Rays an early 1-0 lead.
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While the Braves were able to come back and tie the game in the bottom half, Freddy settled down and with the game tied at 1-1 entering the third inning, the Rays capitalized. With Junior on first, Hicks clobbered his 18th homer of year and gave the Rays a 3-1 lead. Following the homer, Simpson singled, stole second, and later scored on a two-out RBI-single via Mesa Jr.
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With a 4-1 lead entering the sixth inning, Mateo reached on an infield single to start the inning. He quickly advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt by Brent Suter. Yandy picked up the RBI on a ground out to second and gave the Rays a 5-1 lead.
The Rays added a pair of insurance runs thanks to solo shots by Yandy in the eighth inning and Palacios in the ninth.
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With a 7-1 lead, Cash turned things over to Brian Baker in the bottom of the ninth and he retired the side in short order, seemingly back to his normal self after being sidelined with an illness.
The Rays totaled eleven hits to Atlanta’s five. Yandy, Caminero, and Mesa Jr. all had multi-hit days.
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Peralta ended the day with six innings of one run baseball. He allowed five hits while walking one and punching out a pair. Kelly, Sulser, and Baker combined to toss the final three innings, allowing no hits in doing so.
With the Yankees’ win over the Rockies, the Rays’ four game lead in the division remains heading into Wednesday night when Griffin Jax will take the mound looking to rebound after a shaky first start back from the IL. At 86-58, the Rays now sit at 28 games over the .500 mark and hold the third best winning percentage in all of baseball.
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