Tampa Bay Rays Win Again, Make History in Process

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1, on Tuesday night in St. Petersburgh. With the win, the Rays tied some modern-day history, joining the 1990 World Champion Cincinnati Reds in an exclusive club.

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night by a score of 4-1 to move to 24-6 on the season.

The loss dropped the Pirates to 20-10 but they still lead the National League Central by one game at the time of this posting. 

With the win, the Rays join an exclusive club in baseball history:

Per OptaSTATS on Twitter: "@RaysBaseball is now 20-0 this year when scoring first. That ties the 1990 Reds for the longest winning streak when scoring first by any MLB team to begin a season in the modern era. That year's Reds team held first place wire-to-wire and won the World Series."

The modern era refers to the time after 1900, so that's a long time and a prestigious club.

.@RaysBaseball is now 20-0 this year when scoring first.

That ties the 1990 Reds for the longest winning streak when scoring first by any MLB team to begin a season in the modern era.

That year's Reds team held first place wire-to-wire and won the World Series.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) May 3, 2023

In this win, the Rays got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning as Harold Ramirez singled in a run. The Pirates scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 1-1. Tampa regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Wander Franco singled. Jose Siri stole home and Ramirez later homered in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The two teams will play again on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. ET. Mitch Keller will start for Pittsburgh while Shane McClanahan will start for the Rays.

At the time of this posting, the Rays are 4.0 up on the Orioles in the AL East, 6.0 up on the Blue Jays, 7.5 up on the Red Sox and 8.5 up on the Yankees.