Rays 7, Twins 0: Luke Raley does it all

Look, I love you guys, but we are not going to discuss the first three and a half innings of this game. If you want to read the specifics of walks and singles that didn’t score, that’s fine, I respect your intensity, but I’m jumping right to the good stuff, because it’s GOOD STUFF.

After going through four games against Boston without a single home run, the Rays were hungry for something today. While Varland had been strong through three innings for the Twins, in the bottom of the fourth inning the pesky home club got things going and didn’t let up. Luke Raley hit his first big league triple, and it was quite frankly delightful to watch.

He wasn’t on third long, though, as a perfectly placed single by Arozarena brought him home and put the Rays on the board. Ramirez walked and Randy advanced to second, then a Bethancourt single scored Arozarena. A perfect sacrifice hit from Brujan scored Ramirez, and just like that the Rays were up 3-0.

In the fifth Wander Franco got a one-out walk and then Luke Raley said “hey, home run drought? I don’t know her.”

Eflin had a strong outing, lasting through six and 2/3, before giving way to Jalen Beeks in the seventh. Eflin’s final line for the game was 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K on 101 pitches. Beeks was able to keep things from falling apart, so hurray!

Bottom of the seventh, Jose Siri launched a no-doubt home run and took a minute to admire his work.

The Rays weren’t done in the seventh yet, though. Diaz walked, which was the end of the game for Varland, and then a Franco double put two men in scoring position. an Arozarena groundout scored Diaz, and the Rays were up 7-0.

They managed to keep it that way through the ninth, and came away with a triumphant win,

Final: Rays 7, Twins 0