ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ With his Rays mired in an extended offensive slump that resulted in their first losing streak in more than a month, manager Kevin Cash and his coaches decided to try some things different Friday.
One was canceling pregame batting practice, changing up the routine and giving the players a couple of extra hours to relax at home.
The other was more extreme, assembling the first lineup in modern major league history, going back to at least 1901, with nine left-handed hitters (and none being switch-hitters).
"Not every day you see it," Cash said. "We're just fairly unique, we recognize that."
One, the other, both, or something worked as the Rays halted their three-game losing streak with an 11-1 win over the Red Sox.
The 11 runs were the Rays' most in a game since Aug. 30, and more than they scored in their previous three losses combined.
With the win, the Rays improved to 29-16, expanded their lead in the American League East to 4 { games with the Blue Jays' 18-1 loss to the Mets, and moved closer to clinching a playoff spot as the Orioles were swept in a doubleheader by the Yankees.
More immediately beneficial to the Rays, there were a lot of hands involved, with hits from throughout the lineup.
Nate Lowe hit a pair of home runs. Yoshi Tsutsugo had a homer to get them started in the second and later an RBI single. Austin Meadows, who had been in the worst slump, lashed a two-run double. Kevin Kiermaier knocked in one run and scored another. Brandon Lowe had his first multihit game since Aug. 15. Joey Wendle scored twice. Seven of the starting nine had hits, seven scored runs and five had RBIs.
Left-hander Blake Snell gave the Rays a solid start, though he once again couldn't get through the sixth inning as he made 103 pitches to get 16 outs. Pete Fairbanks got a double-play grounder to get the Rays out of the sixth, then was followed by John Curtiss, Ryan Sherriff and Aaron Loup, who lost the shutout in the ninth.
Tsutsugo got the Rays started with a homer to open the second. And, worth noting, off lefty Matt Hall, whom the Sox brought in after starting righty Andrew Triggs, whose vulnerability to lefty hitters was part of the reason the Rays set their lineup the way they did.
The Rays made it 2-0 in the third when Wendle singled, went to second on Brandon Lowe's single, stole third on the front end of a double steal and scored on Kiermaier's productive infield out.
Nate Lowe, who had been 1 for 14 since being called up Sept. 1, singled to lead off the fourth, his first of three hits, then Michael Perez walked. Meadows, who Thursday snapped a career-worst-matching 0 for 18 but was still just 3-for-his-last-32, doubled them both in.
Nate Lowe opened the sixth with his first homer of the season, then followed with a three-run blast in the seventh. Ji-Man Choi started that rally with a walk, then Kiermaier followed with another. Tsutsugo singled in one run, then Nate Lowe stepped up with his second career two-homer game.
Trying to get things right with an all-lefty lineup was the product of a couple of things, Cash said: knowing Triggs was more vulnerable to lefty hitters, that the Sox had only two left-handed relievers, a decision to give recently acquired outfielder Brett Phillips a start.
"Most of the guys are in there a lot; to get Brett Phillips in there would be good," Cash said. "Just thinking about it (Thursday) after the game with (bench coach Matt Quatraro), we don't know their pitcher very well, Triggs. We have him as a fairly big-split guy. We're not even sure how deep he'll go in the game, but we know we have plenty of right-handers that if they decide to go left-handed at certain points, we have options."
