CLEVELAND — Given all the uncertainties the Rays had going into Saturday’s game, things worked out pretty well.
They defeated Cleveland, 8-2, for a fifth straight win, pushed their record to 60-39 and a season-high 21 games over .500, and, perhaps best of all, moved into a tie for first in the American League East with the Red Sox, who come to the Trop next weekend.
Left without a starter for Saturday’s game following Friday’s trade of Rich Hill to the Mets, and with a few of their own relievers — and some of the more familiar Triple-A options — unavailable, the Rays truly had to piece the game together.
And what a job they did, as five relievers — two of whom were in Triple-A on Thursday — combined to allow just five hits and the two runs, struck out 10 and walked none.
The hitters helped in taking an early lead, with Ji-Man Choi going 4 for 5 with a home run and two doubles, and Austin Meadows, who hadn’t homered since June 23, hitting two.
But the pitching was the story.
Drew Rasmussen, who started the season with Milwaukee, was sent to Durham after being acquired in trade and is a few weeks into his second stint with the Rays, got them off to a solid start. Needing just 11 pitches to get the first three outs, Rasmussen was able to work three innings, allowing just a solo homer in the second to Bobby Bradley.
Next was Louis Head, who was selling solar panels before getting a pre-spring tryout and a minor league contract from the Rays.
He made the best of his Friday callup from Durham, his seventh of the season, by working two strong innings, striking out four. He got in a bit of a mess when he went back out for a third inning, allowing a single to open the sixth, then making an errant throw past first base, with the dangerous part of the Cleveland lineup coming up.
The Rays then turned to Andrew Kittredge, the All-Star who worked two innings Friday but needed only 27 pitches to do so, which made him available Saturday. He calmed things down quickly, retiring Amed Rosario, Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes without a ball leaving the infield.
Jeffrey Springs, the lefty acquired in a February trade after being designated for assignment by Boston, worked the next two innings, allowing just one hit.
And they turned to the almost always reliable Diego Castillo for a scoreless ninth.
Given the pitching predicament, an early lead would help. The Rays hitters obliged, and they had a blast. Three actually.
Choi hit an opposite-field homer in the first, making it his second in two games and third in his past eight. Brett Phillips opened the third driving a ball over the wall in right-center for his fifth of the season. And after Choi doubled, Meadows powered a ball out to right for a two-run homer, ending a 22-game homerless drought during which he was otherwise productive.
They added a run in the seventh when Phillips walked and Choi doubled him in, his third extra-base hit of the game. And three more in the eighth as Choi singled in Brandon Lowe and Meadows hit a two-run homer.
