Shane McClanahan pitched into the seven inning to get his major league-leading 11th win, Randy Arozarena homered and drove in four runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 on Friday night.
Tampa Bay is now 51-22 (.699 winning percentage) - easily the best record in baseball, with seven wins more than the Atlanta Braves. The Rays have won 11 of their last 14 games and are 15-7 in interleague play.
“Impressive win obviously, (McClanahan) was outstanding, putting together a pretty special season,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Any time he has a glitch - whether it is one batter or one inning - it seems like he has shown the ability, and the best ones do, to flush it and and move on from it.”
McClanahan (11-1) came into the game with the majors’ second-lowest ERA at 2.18. After allowing just one run and three hits with five strike outs in 6 2/3 innings, he lowered that to 2.12.
“It wasn’t my easiest outing, it wasn’t my best outing, it was gritty. I am pretty proud of that,” McClanahan said. “If you were a betting man, I would put some money on Randy Arozarena to hit a home run here.”
The Padres’ only damage against him was a solo home run by Nelson Cruz in the seventh when the Rays had a 6-0 lead.
PHOTOS: McClanahan gets MLB-best 11th win, Arozarena has HR and 4 RBIs in Rays' 6-2 win over Padres
“He throws a bunch of pitches for strikes,” Cruz said of McClanahan. “Definitely one of the best pitchers in the league.”
Tampa Bay reliever Pete Fairbanks came in to work out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth to earn his seventh save by getting Fernando Tatis Jr. to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
“Really clutch performance right there,” Cash said of Fairbanks putting down the Padres last-chance rally. “We felt like at that point we needed to get our best in there….It is nice to have Pete back, we missed him while he was down.”
The Rays teed off on San Diego starter Yu Darvish (5-5), who gave up six runs, eight hits - including two home runs - in five innings. He struck out five.
With Tampa Bay leading 3-0 in the fifth, Arozarena hit Darvish’s 94 mph sinker 402 feet into the left-field bleachers for a 6-0 advantage.
“I thought about my first at bat when he (Darvish) was throwing me a lot of sinkers and then when I got the base hit it was with an off-speed pitch so on that I one I was expecting a sinker,” Arozarena said about his home run through an interpreter. “It was a little bit more inside than I thought. … But I trusted my hands to get to that ball.”
Isaac Paredes hit a solo homer to left off Darvish in the first inning to put the Rays ahead 1-0.
“We were seeing him pretty well,” Paredes said through an interpreter about the Rays hitters versus Darvish. “We are all being very aggressive, everyone in the lineup does their part.”
Tampa Bay added a run in the fourth before scoring four in the fifth. In the fourth, Luke Raley doubled and scored on Arozarena’s single to make it 2-0. Taylor Walls doubled to lead off the fifth and scored on Jose Siri’s RBI single. Raley doubled again with two outs before Arozarena’s three-run homer.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: LHP Ryan Weathers was optioned to Triple-A El Paso after he allowed 12 runs across only 6-1/3 innings in his past three starts. Weathers will continue to get regular starts with El Paso. … LHP Tom Cosgrove (left hamstring strain) was placed on 15-day IL. Cosgrove felt his hamstring flare up while facing the Guardians on Thursday, though he was able to finish his outing. Over his first month-plus in the majors, Cosgrove posted a 0.53 ERA in 16 outings — including a franchise-record 14 straight scoreless appearances to start his career. … RHP Nabil Crismatt (left hip strain) was reinstated from 15-day IL. … LHP Ray Kerr was recalled from Triple-A El Paso, after registering a 3.63 ERA with 28 strike outs in 22 1/3 innings.
UP NEXT
Rays: RHP Zach Eflin (8-2, 3.28) goes for his ninth win Saturday.
Padres: LHP Blake Snell (2-6, 3.78) takes the mound in the second game of the series.
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