Zach Eflin, Isaac Paredes lead Ray over Rangers 5-2.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Zach Eflin took a shutout into the seventh inning, Isaac Paredes hit a three-run homer in a four-run fifth and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday night. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Zach Eflin took a shutout into the seventh inning, Isaac Paredes hit a three-run homer in a four-run fifth and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Eflin (1-1) allowed three of his five hits and lone run in the seventh, then was removed after Jonah Heim’s one-out RBI single. Heim also had a two-out run-scoring single in the ninth off Pete Fairbanks, who retired Leody Tavares on a game-ending flyout near the left-field wall with with two on.
“He really sets a tone for our rotation,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We needed a start like that. He easily was the right guy to provide it.”
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Tampa Bay had been outscored 18-5 in losing its previous two games.
“It was to kind of get back on track and (try to) take that momentum into tomorrow,” Eflin said.
Tampa Bay has a home run and stolen base in each of its first six games, matching Cleveland in 1998 as the only teams since 1901 to accomplish the feat.
Yandy Díaz, hitless in his previous 11 at-bats, put the Rays up 1-0 with a third-inning RBI single that deflected off pitcher Andrew Heaney’s glove and into right field.
Heaney (0-1) struck out his first two batters in the fifth before first baseman Jared Walsh was charged with an error for dropping Díaz’s pop fly in shallow right. Heaney was removed after Harold Ramírez’s single on his 90th pitch.
