Yandy Diaz went 5-for-6 with four RBIs as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-7 on Sunday to avoid a three-game series sweep.
Jonathan Aranda added three hits and two RBIs for the Rays, who collected 17 hits. Jonny DeLuca had two hits and an RBI, Cedric Mullins drove in two runs, and Chandler Simpson and Ben Williamson added two hits apiece.
Steven Matz (1-0) gave up four runs on six hits with one walk and two strikeouts over five innings.
Jordan Walker slugged a three-run homer among his three hits for St. Louis, which went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Nolan Gorman hit a solo homer and Pedro Pages added a two-run shot.
The Rays scored three runs on five hits in the second inning against Dustin May (0-1), who was making his Cardinals debut. DeLuca doubled in a run and scored on a wild pitch, and Diaz capped the rally with an RBI single.
St. Louis pushed a run across in the third when Walker hit a leadoff double, moved to third on Pages’ groundout and scored on Victor Scott II’s infield single.
May retired the first two batters in the fourth before allowing three runs on a walk and three straight doubles by Diaz, Aranda and Mullins.
May allowed six runs on 10 hits with one walk and three strikeouts over four innings.
Trailing 6-1, St. Louis cut into the deficit with two outs in the fourth on Walker’s three-run homer to center.
St. Louis loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh against Garrett Cleavinger on a single and two walks before Masyn Winn popped out to second.
The Rays moved ahead 9-4 in the top of the eighth after putting two runners on with one out against Matt Pushard. Diaz and Aranda each singled in a run, and Diaz scored on Mullins’ sacrifice fly.
St. Louis pulled closer in the bottom of the eighth against Mason Englert on Gorman’s solo homer and Pages’ two-run shot. The Rays answered with two runs in the ninth on Carson Williams’ sacrifice fly and another Diaz RBI single.
