TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays got Shane McClanahan back in their rotation and some power back in their bats on Monday. But most importantly, they got back on the winning side, halting a three-game losing streak to the Baltimore Orioles with a tense 7-6 win.
The game went back and forth until the Rays took the lead for good in the seventh inning with clutch hits by Jonathan Aranda and Jonny DeLuca.
Taylor Walls, pinch-hitting for Jorge Mateo (who homered earlier), greeted reliever Yennier Cano with a single, and Yandy Diaz was hit by a pitch. Aranda delivered the first big hit, a single to left that scored Walls.
After Junior Caminero’s slow roller to third turned into an infield single that loaded the bases, Orioles manager Craig Albernaz brought in lefty Josh Walker to face Rays cleanup-hitting catcher Liam Hicks.
Cash countered by pinch-hitting DeLuca, and he bounced a single over third that scored Diaz and Aranda and gave the Rays a 7-6 lead.
The Orioles threatened in the eighth, and the Rays summoned Bryan Baker to get the final two outs — and then three more in the ninth.
In avoiding a four-game series sweep. the Rays improved their American League-leading record to 75-49 and extended their East Division lead over the idle New York Yankees to six games.
McClanahan started for the first since leaving a July 30 start with back tightness and spending 17 days on the injured list.
Manager Kevin Cash said before the game there was no set workload limit. Noting that McClanahan threw three 1-2-3 innings on Aug. 11 in a rehab start for Triple-A Durham, he said the team would take Monday’s outing inning by inning.
McClahanan got through the first three relatively well, throwing 43 pitches and giving up just one run — albeit a monstrous 468-foot blast by Colby Mayo.
But he started the fourth allowing a single to Jackson Holliday and a double to Mayo. After a long foul drive, he struck out Gunnar Henderson on his 57th pitch.
Cash decided that was enough, even though McClanahan gestured that he wanted to stay in. The call to the bullpen didn’t work, as Casey Legumina gave up a single to Christian Encarnacion-Strand through the drawn-in infield that scored both runs.
The Rays got their first run in the third, when Diaz hit his 18th homer of the season.
And they took the lead, briefly, with three runs — on two more homers — in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Ryan Vilade went deep for the second straight game and 11th time this season. With a man on and two outs, newcomer Mateo, who joined the team Friday, homered to put the Rays up 4-3.
But the Rays bullpen continued to struggle, as Tyler Wells, who was traded to the Rays from the Orioles on Aug. 3, gave up three runs in the fifth on two homers — one by Tampa native Pete Alonso and the other by Encarnacion-Strand.