Homer-Happy Rays Go Deep Often in 10-0 Rout of Reds

Taylor Walls had his first multi-homer game as a pro and Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena also hit home runs as the Tampa Bay Rays pounded the Cincinnati Reds 10-0 on Tuesday night. Rookie Taj Bradley pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just three hits for his second straight win.

CINCINNATI — The Tampa Bay Rays lead all of baseball in home runs through the first three weeks of the season, and it's not even close. They kept on thumping Tuesday night, hitting four home runs in a 10-0 rout of the Cincinnati Reds. 

Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena homered, and the formerly light-hitting Taylor Walls hit two deep, the first multi-homer game of his career, with one each from both sides of the plate. The defensive specialist had only hit nine homers in his first two years over 196 games. The Rays had 17 hits. and they never let up all night.

"I don't think I could feel bad after that. I saw it well and was aggressive. I got good pitches to hit,'' said Walls, who was. ''I'm just trying to execute the plan and stick to the routine. I'm trying to find some consistency in my work, and I think I've done a good job of that so far.'' 

The Rays (15-3) struck early, scoring four runs in the second inning and three more in the third off of Reds starter Nick Lodolo. He gave up eight runs and 12 hits in just 4 2/3 innings. In his first three starts, he had only given up four runs.

Walls opened the scoring with a solo shot to left, and Diaz followed with a massive three-run shot into the upper deck in left field, traveling 440 feet. In the third, Walls had a two-run triple, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Manuel Margot to make it 7-0.

"Everybody played a big role. And we did it against a good pitcher. He's a talented guy. We had good at-bats and we didn't help him out by expanded on some of t hose breaking balls, kind of made him throw fastballs over the plate and we were ready to hit.''

Arozarena hit his solo shot in the fourth inning, and Walls added his second homer in the sixth to give the Rays a 9-0 lead.

The Rays now have a major league-best 41 home runs, the second-most through a team’s first 18 games of a season in MLB history since records started being kept in 1901. Only the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals (42) hit more. Tampa Bay has homered in each of its first 18 games, the second-longest streak to open a season in MLB history behind only the 2019 Mariners’ 20-game run. The Rays' 18-game homer streak at any point in a single season ties a mark set from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8 in 2017.

Rookie pitcher Taj Bradley was spectacular in his second career start. He pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three harmless singles and he had nine strikeouts after getting eight in his first start against Boston. The Reds never got a runner to second base against him. He certainly made a strong case for staying in the Rays' injury depleted rotation after getting his second straight win.

"I felt great, the body felt great and I was happy to get the call-up again,'' Bradley said. "I have a more relaxed personality, and I knew what I could do. All that run supports adds to the relaxing because you can attack the hitters and not attack around the corners.''

Considering the opposite paths these two franchises have been on in the past decade, it was kind of surprising that the Rays ended a five-game losing streak to the Reds dating all the way back to 2014. The Rays are just 6-14 all-time against the Reds.

The two teams wrap up the series on Wednesday afternoon at 12:35 p.m. ET. Drew Rasmussen (2-1, 2.60 ERA) will start for the Rays. Levi Stoudt, a 25-year-old from Pottstown, Pa., will make his major-league debut for the Reds.