LDN - Sports

Rays dump A's for third win in a row

[July 22, 2016] OAKLAND, Calif. -- Tim Beckman tied another team hitting record, Matt Moore pitched another gem, and the Tampa Bay Rays opened their four-game series against the Oakland A's with their third straight victory Thursday night.

Moore pitched seven strong innings in the Rays' 7-3 win at the Oakland Coliseum.

The left-hander gave up three runs on four hits, struck out six and walked two. He pitched at least six innings for the ninth consecutive start. In his past eight outings, he is 4-3 with a 2.86 ERA, 41 strikeouts and 14 walks in 53 2/3 innings.

Moore (6-7) gave up a three-run homer to Jake Smolinski in the second inning, a shot that put Oakland ahead 3-2, but he responded with five straight shutout innings.

"I think that kind of woke me up," Moore said. "It was early in the game. We were just trying to set the tone by throwing strikes, pounding the zone early. Smolinski wound up getting it out there and put it over the wall. It kind of lights a fire up under you.

"We were in a good spot with our offense tonight, putting up those runs. Once we got the lead, it was definitely just keep 'em right there."

The Rays, who were coming off back-to-back wins at Colorado, matched their longest winning streak since June 12-15. They can tie their season-best winning streak of four with a victory Friday night against Oakland.

Tampa Bay scored a combined 21 runs in its victories against the Rockies and stayed hot against the A's, pounding out 10 hits.

Beckham, who had a franchise-record-tying five hits Wednesday against Colorado, homered in his first at-bat and singled in his second, giving him eight hits in eight at-bats. That tied a franchise record he shares with Aubrey Huff and Ty Wigginton. Beckham's streak ended when he popped out in the sixth inning.

"I didn't know it until after the game," Beckham said of the record. "It's a pretty cool thing to be a part of.

"The team's rolling. We're playing good baseball. It's fun. It's always better when we're winning, and we want to keep the momentum going."

Corey Dickerson went 2-for-3 with his 14th home run of the season, a solo shot, and drove in three runs. Logan Forsythe went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI and scored twice, and Brad Miller added two hits.

Rays right-hander Alex Colome took over with runners on first and second in the ninth and got the final three outs for his 21st straight save, one off the team record set by Fernando Rodney set in 2012. Colome, who is 21-for-21 on save chances this year, extended his own franchise record of consecutive saves to start a season.

A's right-hander Sonny Gray (4-9) gave up seven runs on nine hits, including two home runs, over five innings. He struck out six, walked none and threw 94 pitches.

Gray fell to 1-8 over his past 14 starts. He ended a seven-game losing streak with a victory against Toronto on Saturday, his first win since April 22.

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The Rays broke the Thursday game open with a four-run fifth inning.

"That game kind of went how my year's been, giving up the home run, then having the big inning," Gray said. "I thought at the start of the fifth inning I made some pretty good pitches, and suddenly it's first and second with nobody out, and then it didn't go well from there. I still thought I made decent pitches.

"I felt good. I felt good again coming into the game. I felt like I had a good approach coming in, and the ball just wasn't coming out like it has been. My breaking stuff was good, but my fastball just wasn't there tonight."

The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the first when Forsythe hit a leadoff single and scored on Dickerson's two-out single. They added a run in the second on Beckham's fourth home run of the season.

The A's moved ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the second on Smolinski's three-run blast with two outs, his fifth homer of the season.

Tampa Bay pulled even with Dickerson's leadoff home run in the fourth. Then the Rays pulled away with five hits in the fifth -- a double by Forsythe and singles by Beckham, Luke Maile, Miller and Longoria. Dickerson hit a sacrifice fly.

"He's had a tough time this year," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Gray. "It's the first time he's ever had to go through something like that. We'll see games that are good and he won't get a decision in it. Other games he gives up some runs like he did tonight. But I still feel like his stuff's good.

"I still feel confident every time he goes out there. I always think he's going to get out of the bit of a mess that he gets into, because that's been his history. Just this year, up to this point, he's had a tough time."

NOTES: Tampa Bay 1B Logan Morrison missed his third consecutive game due to a sore right forearm. He was examined by a doctor and received a cortisone injection. Rays manager Kevin Cash said he's optimistic that Morrison will avoid the disabled list. .... Rays 1B Steve Pearce (right hamstring) sat out, as expected, after playing back-to-back games since being activated from the disabled list. With Morrison and Pearce sidelined, Rays backup 2B/SS Tim Beckham made his first start and appearance at first base in his professional baseball career, which began in 2008. ... RHP Jesse Hahn will be called up Sunday from Triple-A Nashville and start for the A's in the series finale against Tampa Bay. Hahn, who was sent down on June 10, is 2-4 with a 6.49 ERA in seven major league starts this season. ... The A's called up RHP Zach Neal from Nashville and optioned LHP Patrick Schuster to Triple-A.

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