ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Hitting coach Chad Mottola insisted before Thursday’s game that there was no reason to panic about the Rays’ impotent offense, that a lot of work was being done to address their assorted issues and he remained confident that in time they would be fine.
A few hours later, the boys in light blue made him look like a wise man — or at least one with less to be stressed about — as they scored more runs than they had in more than three weeks, beating the Yankees 9-1.
Yandy Diaz had a two-run single, Randy Arozarena a three-run home run, and Austin Meadows a two-run homer and a two-run double as the Rays improved to 20-19.
The offense was the show, but Rich Hill deserved some star billing, working a dominating 6 2/3 innings, allowing only three hits and striking out nine.
The Rays had scored only one run in losing the first two games of the series to the Yankees, five total in their previous three games and nine over five. They last scored more than nine runs in a game April 20, when they won at Kansas City 14-7.
Though the Rays entered Thursday ranked ninth overall in the American League in runs, they were 12th in average (.217), 11th in homers (38), first in strikeouts (397) and last in hitting with runners in scoring position (.197). They had a majors-most nine games of scoring one or none.
They got started Thursday with two outs in the first inning against Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon, as Manuel Margot singled, Brandon Lowe doubled and Diaz laced a single.
They made it 4-0 in the third when Arozarena led off with a walk and Meadows, who saw 10 pitches while striking out in the first, delivered his team-leading eighth homer.
And they expanded the lead to 7-0 in the sixth when Joey Wendle led off with a walk, catcher Kevan Smith singled and with two outs, Arozarena laced a 2-0 pitch into the leftfield seats.
Hill came into the start with an 11-inning scoreless streak and added to that with one of his sharpest outings of the season.
