ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — So much of the recent talk around the Rays has been about what they have lost, in terms of players to injuries and games.
Tuesday, Isaac Paredes provided a glaring reminder of the promise they still have, hitting a franchise record-tying three home runs in a 5-4 win over the Yankees.
Paredes, acquired from Detroit in a late spring trade for Austin Meadows, is one of the young players getting additional opportunity due to the growing list of injured starters, with Kevin Kiermaier and Manuel Margot now joining Wander Franco, Brandon Lowe and Mike Zunino on the sideline.
Paredes, 23, took full advantage, homering in the first, third and fifth innings.
He is the sixth Rays player to hit three in a game, joining Lowe, who did so at the end of last season, Travis d’Arnaud, Evan Longoria (twice), B.J. Upton and Jonny Gomes.
Having dropped six of their previous seven games and frustrated by the injuries to Kiermaier and Margot during Monday’s loss, the Rays (37-31) came out swinging against Yankees lefty starter Nestor Cortes.
Paredes, moved up to second in the order for the first time and playing first base for just the second, knocked a 1-1 pitch from Cortes into the left-field seats for his first homer.
Harold Ramirez added another on a fly ball that barely got over the low wall in the leftfield corner, the “blast” measuring 323 feet. In essence, it came with two asterisks.
One, because Ramirez appeared to break his bat. Two, because with an exit velocity of 85.4 mph it was the softest hit of any homer to go over the wall at any stadium tracked by Statcast since its 2015 inception.
Paredes went deep for the second time with one out in the third, which marked the first time Cortes allowed three homers in a big-league game.
Paredes delivered his record-tying shot with one on and one out in the fifth, right after the Yankees lifted Cortes and brought in right-hander Clarke Schmidt.
In his fourth at-bat, Paredes was hit by a pitch.
Meanwhile, a parade of six Rays relievers held the Yankees down on a successful bullpen day. Jalen Beeks worked 1 2/3 innings as the opener and was followed by Shawn Armstrong, Matt Wisler, Ryan Thompson, Brooks Raley and Jason Adam. Colin Poche allowed a two-run home run to Marwin Gonzalez before getting the final out in the ninth.
