OAKLAND, Calif. — After back-to-back rough losses at home, the Rays needed a change.
So they flew across the country, pulled on their navy blue jerseys for the first time and put on a pretty good show Monday night, beating the A’s 6-1.
Drew Rasmussen gave them the strong start they needed after their pitchers gave up 18 runs the previous two games, holding the A’s to one hit over five strong innings, and four relievers finished the combined two-hitter.
The offense showed some life, as Yandy Diaz started the game with a bang, and most of the rest of the hitters followed, with five players driving in runs and seven logging hits (Wander Franco among the four who did both).
And the embarrassing attendance figure wasn’t theirs, as the announced 2,488 was the smallest in Oakland since Sept. 9, 1980, when the A’s had 2,443 for the visiting Rangers.
Switching to the navy jerseys — which had been delayed in production and arrived last week — was a cosmetic adjustment for the Rays. The improved on-field performance was much more significant.
“No doubt we want to get back to playing our style of baseball,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We’re not used to having lopsided games against us. Tonight was a good start — to pitch well, play some good defense behind our pitchers and get some timely hits.”
Diaz leading off a game at Oakland’s coliseum with a homer is nothing new. The last time he was atop the Rays order there, it was the 2019 American League wild-card game, when he homered his first time up and again in his second.
“I definitely enjoy hitting leadoff,” Diaz said, via team interpreter Manny Navarro.
Thus making the bigger question why Cash would bat Diaz anywhere but leadoff here; in three 2021 games, he hit fourth, third and fourth and was a combined 1-for-12.
“Yeah,” Cash said, “it’s weird.”
After the A’s tied it in the second — the only two base runners Rasmussen allowed — the Rays grabbed the lead back in the third and kept adding on, improving to 13-10.
In the third, hits by Diaz, Franco (who was back in the lineup after missing Sunday’s game with right hamstring tightness) and Randy Arozarena got them two runs. They got two more in the fourth on the first of two doubles by Manuel Margot and RBI singles by catcher Mike Zunino and Franco. And they added one more in the fifth when Margot doubled in Kevin Kiermaier.
With the Rays held to four runs total the previous two games, Cash wants to think Monday’s showing was the start of something offensively.
“Everybody kind of played a part,” he said. “Some of the guys that have been somewhat quiet seemed like they really contributed. So very encouraging.”
Zunino said he sees it coming.
“It just feels like we’ve been so close,” he said. “We’ve been in a spot where guys are starting to have better at-bats, guys are driving the ball more. It’s one of those things where you know at some point it’s going to open up. And (Monday) was a good night. Hopefully we can keep it rolling (Tuesday).”
Rasmussen did pretty well on the mound as well.
Though he didn’t have the dominant stuff for big strikeout and swing-and-miss numbers from his last start, he allowed just the two base runners — a two-out walk to Seth Brown, then after a stolen base, a two-out single to Chad Pinder — for the one run, striking out three.
“I didn’t think my execution was quite as good today,” Rasmussen said. “But (Zunino) did a good job of changing speeds a lot. Now, it was good enough to throw it in the zone and they hit a lot of balls hard and they happened to find gloves.”
Four relievers followed — Jason Adam, Phoenix Sanders (who left after one inning when his back stiffened and could be headed to the injured list), Ryan Thompson and Andrew Kittredge — to complete the two-hitter.
Rasmussen’s best move may have been his first one, opting — as is the starting pitcher’s decision — to wear the navy blue jerseys, which were delayed due to production issues and weren’t delivered until last week. The Rays were 55-35 when wearing them last year.
“I’m a big fan of the navy’s,” he said. “It’s good to have them back, and we can let them roll.”
Added Zunino: “Shoot, it’s not a coincidence when we bring those back.”
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