ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Luke Raley, Josh Lowe and Yandy Díaz homered in the ninth inning as the undefeated Tampa Bay Rays rallied for a 10-6 win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.
Raley hit his third homer in two nights, a liner to left field leading off the ninth against Washington closer Kyle Finnegan (0-1) to tie it at 6. Lowe followed with a shot into the second deck in right-center.
With two on and one out, Diaz capped the outburst with a three-run homer to left-center.
Jose Siri also went deep and Randy Arozarena had two RBI doubles for the Rays, who improved to 5-0 and extended the best start in franchise history.
Ryan Thompson (1-0) pitched one inning for the win.
Lane Thomas had three hits and drove in three runs for Washington, and Alex Call added three hits and a walk. The Nationals got 16 hits but went 3 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
Tampa Bay starting pitchers had allowed one run over 23 innings in the first four games, but Josh Fleming was touched for five runs on 10 hits and was lifted after the first three Nationals batters reached in the fourth.
Chad Kuhl pitched five innings in his Nationals debut. Signed to a minor league contract in the offseason, Kuhl made the team in spring training. He allowed four runs and four hits, but retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.
Hitters had their way early and the game was tied 4-all after two innings.
After Victor Robles and CJ Abrams singled to start the fourth, Thomas grounded a single to center, scoring Robles to make it 5-4.
Pinch-hitter Luis Garcia doubled home Call in the seventh to make it 6-4 before Arozarena's double scored Díaz to pull the Rays to 6-5 in the eighth.
UP NEXT
Rays LHP Shane McClanahan (1-0), who tossed six shutout innings against the Tigers on opening day, starts the series finale Wednesday.