OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Tampa Bay Rays' 4-3 win over the Oakland A's on Tuesday gave them a winning record for the first time since opening day.
Pushing that miserable 1-8 and 4-13 start further behind them, the Rays overcame a series of mistakes to log a fourth straight victory and improve to 27-26.
The Rays got their first three runs in the third with the fourth set of back-to-back-to-back homers in franchise history, as C.J. Cron, Joey Wendle and Wilson Ramos went deep. Daniel Robertson added a homer in the ninth.
Blake Snell gave them another strong start, until being pulled two outs into the sixth after 97 pitches anyway, and four relievers _ Jonny Venters, dazzling rookie Jaime Schultz, Chaz Roe and Sergio Romo _ combined for the final 10 outs. Romo made it interesting, allowing two hits to open the ninth and two runs to score before ending it for the save.
The Rays won, in a way, in spite of themselves, making several mistakes on the bases (Robertson and Carlos Gomez) and a season high three errors in the field (Brad Miller, Robertson, Gomez).
The Rays took the lead with a barrage of power in the third inning off Oakland starter Daniel Gossett.
In a 10-pitch span, Cron hit his team-high 12th homer, Wendle his second and Ramos his seventh.
Rays PR man Dave Haller had barely looked up the details of the Rays most recent back-to-back homers (Evan Longoria and Logan Morrison, Aug. 1, 2017) when he had to switch off to find the last back-to-back-to-back blasts (Longoria, Brad Miller, Corey Dickerson, Sept. 21, 2016). Tuesday marked only the fourth time they had done so in 21 seasons.
Snell was sharp again from the start, holding the A's to two hits while working into the sixth. But he didn't get to finish, and looked surprised to see manager Kevin Cash coming out to get him after he struck out Chad Pinder for the second out on his 97th pitch of the night. Venters got the final out.
The hard-throwing Schultz was next, and in his first appearance since being called up Sunday was impressive, striking out the side, with the final pitch to each batter 96 mph, 98, 97.
Roe worked the eighth, getting into and out of trouble. And, with no Alex Colome to call on, Romo worked the ninth.
The Rays and A's play the third game of the four-game series on Wednesday night.
