Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs, and the American League East-leading Rays produced a five-run fourth inning Friday night to breeze past the San Diego Padres 9-4 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Rays, who were 2-5 on their previous homestand, became the first AL squad to reach 80 wins.
Chandler Simpson went 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and two stolen bases. Taylor Walls had two hits, two runs and a stolen base. Cedric Mullins homered, scored twice and drove in two runs.
Starting pitcher Shane McClanahan (10-6) earned his fourth win in eight starts, pitching 5 2/3 innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on three hits. He struck out four and walked two.
San Diego’s Jackson Merrill went 2-for-3, stroked a two-run homer, walked, and scored twice, accounting for half of his team’s hits.
Starter Casey Mize (5-8) surrendered seven runs (two earned) on six hits over five innings, with a walk and a strikeout.
In Tampa Bay’s first matchup with San Diego in Florida in nearly two years, Diaz drilled a 2-1 sinker up in the zone from Mize down the right field line for a solo homer, his 20th, in the third.
The deep ball was the leadoff hitter’s 120th of his career and 119th with the Rays, moving him past B.J. Upton into fifth place in franchise history.
Mize helped fuel the rally when he threw away a potential double-play comebacker, firing wildly wide of second and putting runners on the corners.
The Rays scored five runs with just two hits via Mullins’ fielder’s choice that did not result in an out, a wild pitch, Jorge Mateo’s sacrifice fly, and run-scoring singles from Walls and Diaz for a 6-0 advantage.
Aided by second baseman Mateo’s error, the Padres answered with RBI fielder’s choices by Freddy Fermin and Jake Cronenworth to cut it to 6-2.
Jonny DeLuca increased the lead to five by singling in Simpson in the fifth, but Merrill’s 22nd blast to right-center in the next frame made it 7-4.
Junior Caminero looped a broken-bat RBI single in the sixth, and Mullins homered to right off Wandy Peralta in the following inning.
