ST. PETERSBURG — Ryan Vilade knew he’d spend some more time on the dirt Friday night, as he made his first Major League start at second base in the Rays’ series opener against the Guardians at Tropicana Field.
But it wound up being the dirt on Vilade that set the tone for the Rays’ 11-3 victory, which made them the first American League team to reach the 60-win mark this season and improved their MLB-best record at home to 36-15.
Batting with a runner on second in the second inning, Vilade jumped on a first-pitch changeup from Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo and ripped it toward the first row of seats beyond the left-field wall. The ball cleared the fence, but it wound up bouncing off a young fan’s glove and landed back on the field.
The Trop’s lights dimmed as umpires called the hit a home run, but Vilade kept running until he left his feet for a head-first dive into third base. Vilade stood up, pumped his fist, high-fived third-base coach Brady Williams and trotted the rest of the way home with a two-run lead in hand.
Vilade’s all-out effort, even if it wasn’t totally necessary, was emblematic of the impact the bottom of Tampa Bay’s lineup had on the first act of a critical nine-game homestand for the Rays.
Take it from the fifth spot of the order on down. Jonny DeLuca had two hits and an RBI. Chandler Simpson picked up two hits, including a hustle double, and made a diving catch in left field in the fourth inning.
Vilade’s homer was his eighth of the season and his fifth on the first pitch of the at-bat. Richie Palacios replaced him at second in the seventh inning … and wound up launching a three-run homer in the eighth.
Starting at shortstop while Taylor Walls took another day to rest the sore fingers on his left hand, Ben Williamson drove in a run and made a spectacular diving play up the middle in the seventh. And who had a better night at the plate than catcher Nick Fortes? He continued his recent surge at the plate by going 4-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
That was plenty of support for starter Shane McClanahan, who bounced back from a rough outing in Boston by holding Cleveland to just one run on two hits over five innings. Cole Sulser struck out two in the sixth, and right-hander Chris Roycroft handled the rest of the game to earn his first Major League save.
