ST. PETERSBURG � Willy Adames wasn't having a very good night for the Rays at shortstop, with a combination of misplays and missed plays.
But he made up for that with one big swing in the eighth inning, his leadoff homer leading the Rays to an 8-6 win over the Marlins.
Saturday opened a 21-game stretch that should be the Rays easiest of the season, as they face six teams with losing records � the last place Marlins, Mariners, Tigers and Orioles, plus the Padres and Blue Jays.
In theory, it's a prime opportunity to for the Rays to improve their standing in the AL wild card race, as they kept their hold on the second spot by improving to 64-48, starting the day a half-game ahead of the A's, who played later.
But it didn't start well.
Sloppy pitching and defense overall, most notably by Adames, put the Rays down early, as they were charged with two errors, and there were a couple of other misplays.
Eric Sogard showed some of his #NerdPower to put them back on top by hitting two homers. They lost the lead again when the Marlins rallied for two runs in seventh off Chaz Roe, who was working a second inning.
Then they flexed some more muscle. Austin Powers homered to lead off the seventh to get them even. And then Adames put them ahead to stay, Travis d'Arnaud singling in Ji-Man Choi with an insurance run.
After a seven-pitch opening inning by Diego Castillo, Jalen Beeks came on for the Rays and quickly got in trouble, allowing one run in the second and then three in the third. He certainly wasn't fooling anyone, throwing 33 pitches before he got his first swing and miss.
He worked four innings overall, needing 59 pitches to do so, allowing the four runs (three earned) striking out two, walking one and hitting three.
Roe had a quick seventh but his own trouble in the seventh, giving up two runs and the lead. Nick Anderson, the reliever acquired Wednesday from the Marlins, had a strong showing to set his ex-mates down in order in the eighth. Emilio Pagan pitched the ninth for the Rays, allowing a two-out triple before sealing the win, which was the Rays seventh in their last eight games.
And by the end of the night, they ran their streak of scoring six or more runs to six straight games, tying the team record.
The Rays took a 5-4 lead on some #NerdPower.
Sogard, making his Trop debut as a Ray after being acquired last Sunday from Toronto, hit homers his first two times up � a two-run shot in the second inning, and a three-run blast in the third.
That gave him 12 in what's been a career year power wise at age 33. It was the first multi-homer game in his parts of nine seasons in the majors, a career-most five RBIs.
Sogard got the nickname, affectionately, from fans in Oakland in 2013 who appreciated his scrappy style playing for the A's and rather obvious hard-framed eyewear.
"Nerd Power was given to me from the great fans of Oakland," he said upon joining the Rays last week. "I remember walking out to a game and they had a new sign out there in rightfield with a pair of glasses and #NerdPower.
"It took me a little while to embrace it, I'm not going to lie. But it's kind of followed me through my career, and it's been something cool for sure."
Sogard has some fun with the whole idea now, using a baseball with glasses as his Twitter avatar and mentioning #NerdPower in his bio and tweets.
Sogard wasn't looking to make a statement or start a revolution by wearing, well, nerdy glasses on the field.
"I tried contacts; I don't see as well with contacts. I tried Oakleys (sports-style glasses). Honestly, I see best with these, and seeing is important in this game so I've got to stick with 'em."
Sogard said the power surge stems from the 2016 surgery on his left knee, which allowed him to transform his swing to get more power, which he has since refined further.
Sogard welcomed the chance to come to the Rays from the struggling Jays.
"Excited to be here and with the group and excited for the run down the stretch," he said. "As a player you want to play in October. That's the goal. To come to a group of guys battling every night right in the mix, I'm excited to be here and hope I can help out a lot."
And he relishes the opportunity to be the pesky contributor.
Absolutely," he said. "That's my goal, to go up to the plate and battle as much as I can, make the pitcher throw extra pitches foul pitches off and be a little pain up there. Definitely a big part of my game and I'll continue to do that."
The two-game series concludes Sunday afternoon, with Yonny Chirinos starting for the Rays and lefty Caleb Smith for the Marlins.
