Jefferies, A’s struggle in defeat to balanced Rays

OAKLAND » Yandy Díaz led off the game with a home run to back right-hander Drew Rassmussen’s second straight winning start, and the Tampa Bay Rays used a balanced offense to beat the Oakland A’s 6-1 on Monday night.

Wander Franco returned to the lineup and hit a pair of run-scoring singles after a precautionary day off Sunday to nurse his tender right leg.

Franco and Randy Arozarena hit consecutive RBI singles in the third against Daulton Jefferies (1-4), and Mike Zunino’s base hit the next inning brought in another Rays run.

Manuel Margot added an RBI double in the fifth among his three hits as the Rays tagged Jefferies for career highs of 11 hits and six runs.

Rays manager Kevin Cash has been eager to see more hitters get going at the plate and Tampa Bay capitalized with contributions from up and down the order to kick off a nine-game trip. The Rays improved to 3-5 in series openers this season with their first such victory on the road in three tries.

Rasmussen (2-1) allowed one run and one hit, struck out three and walked one in five solid innings to follow up a victory against Seattle his last time out featuring career-bests of nine strikeouts and six innings. Four relievers finished the 2-hour, 37-minute game.

The A’s lost their seasonhigh fourth straight after a weekend sweep by Cleveland at home, and have lost seven of nine after winning eight of 12.

Tampa Bay’s pitchers held Oakland in check after having given up 17 runs over their previous 13 innings.

The clubs played their fifth of seven games over a 24-day span.