Paredes’ three blasts lift Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Isaac Paredes homered in his first three at-bats, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Paredes combined with Harold Ramirez for back-to-back homers in the first inning off Nestor Cortes, then put the Rays ahead 3-2 in the third and added a two-run drive in the fifth on the first pitch after Clarke Schmidt relieved.

It was just the second multihomer game for Paredes, who hit two against Detroit on May 18. He was hit by a pitch from Ron Marinaccio in the seventh. “The adrenaline was definitely saying that I should hit another homer,” Paredes said through a translator.

Tampa Bay had lost eight of its previous 10 games. The Rays acquired Paredes, 23, from the Tigers on April 4 in exchange for outfielder Austin Meadows. Paredes is hitting .209 with eight homers and 16 RBIs, and 10 of his last 13 hits have been for extra bases.