Rays rookies Bauers, Adames thrive in win
Jake Bauers’ first career home run highlighted a big night for Tampa Bay rookies.
Bauers put the Rays ahead in the fourth inning and Tampa Bay rolled to an 8-4 victory over the visiting Blue Jays on Monday night.
Bauers and fellow 22-year-old Willy Adames drove in four runs, and left-hander Ryan Yarbrough pitched six innings to help the Rays win for only the second time in 11 games.
Playing in his fifth major-league game, Bauers got on base his first four times and scored three runs. The rookie first baseman spent much of the game looking across the diamond at Adames, a shortstop who was recalled from the minor leagues earlier Monday.
“We kept making eye contact,” Bauers said. “We’ve played for three or four years (in the minors) with each other, and for all of it to come together here now, it was pretty special.”
Bauers’ two-run homer off Sam Gaviglio after a single by former Giants infielder Matt Duffy erased a 4-3 Toronto lead in the fourth inning.
Tampa Bay tacked on three runs in the seventh with the help of two errors on the same play by reliever John Axford.
Joey Wendle hit a bases-loaded dribbler back to the mound that Axford bobbled, then picked up and threw wildly to enable two runs to score.
“It’s never an easy play,” said Toronto manager John Gibbons. “When you bobble it, you start rushing and that’s what happened.”
Adames then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 8-4.
Yarbrough (5-2), who leads the major leagues with 44 relief innings, started and pitched six innings. The 26-year-old rookie survived a shaky start in which he gave up seven hits to the first 16 batters he faced, including Teoscar Hernandez’s 11th home run.
Yarbrough didn’t worry about being yanked early from his fourth career start.
“With what I’ve been doing, either starting or coming into the game in the second inning, my job is to go as deep into the game as possible,” he said. “So that’s kind of what I did. To be able to go six innings was really big for me.”
D’backs 9, Pirates 5: Host Arizona scored two runs on wild pitches in the eighth inning, Jake Lamb hit a tying three-run homer in the seventh and the Diamondbacks took advantage of a hit by pitch to overcome a 5-0 deficit to rally past Pittsburgh.
Cubs 7, Brewers 2: Anthony Rizzo homered down the right-field line on the first pitch of a five-run 11th inning to help visiting Chicago beat Milwaukee and jump into first place in the NL Central.
Indians 4, White Sox 0: Carlos Carrasco struck out 11 while pitching two-hit ball over seven innings, Michael Brantley hit his 11th homer and visiting Cleveland took advantage of another wild outing by Lucas Giolito to win for the fifth time in six games. Giolito (4-7), a 23-year-old righty who had been one of the game’s top pitching prospects, threw more balls (47) than strikes (46) in giving up four runs and four hits in five-plus innings.
Cardinals 5, Padres 2: Marcell Ozuna and Jose Martinez hit two-run homers, Jack Flaherty pitched into the seventh, and the Cards beat San Diego for the 46th time in the past 62 games in St. Louis.
Red Sox 2, Orioles 0: Brock Holt and Jackie Bradley Jr. each hit a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning, and visiting Boston held Baltimore to five hits.
Mariners 5, Angels 3: Host Seattle won a game of Home Run Derby, getting two from Nelson Cruz, including a gametying two-run homer in the first and a solo go-ahead shot in the fourth. Ryon Healy added a two-run homer for the Mariners. Mike Trout homered twice and Albert Pujols once for the Angels.