Rays' Big Bats Heat Up, Diaz, Arozarena Lead Way in 7-2 Win

It's been a long time since Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena have been hot on the same day, but they combined for five hits and six RBIs in a 7-2 win over the New York Yankees on Saturday.

Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena gestures after his three-run homer on Saturday against the Yankees. / Matt Pendleton-USA TODAY Sports

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The one thing that's stood out with Tampa Bay oft-anemic offense so far this season is that they've been unable to connect the dots. Consecutive big hits — or even hard-hit balls — have been few and far between.

That wasn't the case on Saturday.

They thumped the ball all day against New York Yankees starter Nestor Cortes, a long-time nemesis, and reliever Dennis Santana, winning 7-2 to even the weekend series at Tropicana Field. They had a season-high six extra base hits, with the top four in the order — Yandy Diaz, Randy Arozarena, Amed Rosario and Isaac Paredes — collectively getting all eight Rays hits and driving in all seven runs.

We haven't seen that very often this season. Diaz and Arozarena had huge days. DIaz homered in the first inning — his first long ball since Opening Day back on March 28 — and also had two rocket doubles off the wall. Arozarena hit a three-run homer in the third inning to give the Rays the lead. He was 2-for-3 with a double as well, his first multi-hit game since March 30.

That's how rough this has been for Tampa Bay's two best hitters. When you're referencing events from March, that's a long drought.

It was a different kind of day on Saturday, one that the Rays, now 20-20 on the year, desperately needed.

"It's a different offense when those two guys are contributing at the level that they're capable of,'' Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. ''There were a bunch of good at-bats, hard-hit balls. Look, Nestor Cortes has given us fits in the past, but I thought we had a good approach. We made him work a little bit and we got ourselves in hitters' counts. He was maybe falling behind and leaving balls up in the zone. And when we came down, we got some big hits.''

Diaz ripped Cortes' first pitch over the left center field wall in the first inning. The exit velocity on his two doubles that rattled off the wall were even higher (113.6 and 104.9 mph), but it was nice to see him dialed in. His double in the third inning followed a walk to No. 9 hitter Jose Siri, and both hitters saw six pitches.

Cortes came out over the plate too much to Arozarena with his first pitch, and he launched a shot over the wall in right-center to give the Rays a 4-2 lead.

They would tack on three more in the seventh to blow the game open. Pinch-hitter Ben Rortvedt walked and scored on a Diaz double to center. Arozarena doubled to left, scoring Diaz. He went to third on a Rosario single and scored on a Parades sacrifice fly.

The Rays wore their "CIty Connect jerseys and are now 6-1 in the new threads. They also got the type of pitching that's helped them make the postseason five straight years. Zach Littell started and went 5 2/3 innings. He gave up two runs in the second after uncharacteristly walking two batters, his first in more than 28 innings, the fifth-longest streak in Rays history.

He came out with a runner on in the sixth, and lefty Garrett Cleavinger came in, inducing a lazy fly ball to righrt from left-handed hitting Anthony Rizzo. Cleavinger hit Trent Grisham with a pitch in the seventh, so Jason Adam came in. He allowed a single to Anthony Volpe and then Juan Soto flied out to deep right-center.

Phil Maton pitched a perfect eighth for the Rays, and Pete Fairbanks, who came off the injured list earlier in the day., threw a 1-2-3 ninth. The Rays bullpen covered 3 1/3 innings, allowing just the one hit. The relievers have been great on this homestand so far, pitching to a 1.36 ERA over eight games. Opposing hitters are hitting just .186 against them, which is impressive since their 5.59 bullpen ERA coming into the homestand was the second-worst in the league.

.While the heart of the Rays' order delivered, it was just the opposite for the Yankees. Stars Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Alex Verdugo were a combined 0-for-11. They were a combined 0-for-10 during Friday's 2-0 Yankees win, so keeping them in check has been huge so far this series.

"I think just attacking them, that helps,'' Littell said of the Rays' success against the New York stars. ''When you get them in hitters' counts, they're just that much better. When you can get strike one, you can start to expand the zone a little quicker with the stuff this staff has. We can do what we do.

Cortes allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings, walking three and allowing five hits. It was just three weeks ago that he pitched seven scoreless innings against the Rays in New York on April 20.

The two teams will decide the series on Sunday at 1:40 p.m. ET. Luis Gil (3-1, 2.92 ERA) will start for the Yankees. The Rays will go with Tyler Alexander (1-1, 4.96 ERA)