Tampa Bay Rays at Oakland Athletics

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

62-62, 28-28 Away

Final
0 - 3

Oakland Athletics

54-71, 31-31 Home

JJ Bleday homers, Joe Boyle pitches six innings as A's beat Rays 3-0

Bleday got his 16th home run in the first inning and Lawrence Butler added a sacrifice fly in the fifth to account for all of the offense. “If I get this job done, we get a run on the board,” Butler said. “I’m really in the box focused up, trying to do the job for my team.”

Boyle (3-5) limited the Rays to just two hits and three walks while striking out six. Grant Holman, Tyler Ferguson and Mason Miller each followed with hitless innings while combining for five more strikeouts, with Miller getting his 19th save.

“Throwing with conviction and trusting my stuff is probably the biggest thing,” Boyle said after his outing. “It’s worked for me in the past, and it’s what I want to continue to do.”

The A's jumped out to an early lead in the first that they never relinquished. Butler singled to open the inning and, after Brent Rooker struck out, Bleday smashed a fastball to the right field bleachers.

“I love setting the tone for the team,” Butler said. “I’m trying to bring the energy, just trying to get the boys going, so I enjoy hitting first.”

Zack Gelof had two of Oakland's six hits, with a single in the second and double in the fifth. He scored on Butler's sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Tampa Bay had runners on in all but three innings but could not convert. The Rays were hitless until the fifth when Yandy Díaz singled with two outs but was left stranded. Díaz has reached base on the road in 31 straight games.

Boyle threw 104 pitches and his six strikeouts tied a career high.

“I definitely think he pushed through those six innings. It wasn’t necessarily pretty,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “He really showed a little bit of fight and some bounce-back, too.”

Rays starter Taj Bradley (6-8) gave up the three runs and five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in six innings.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Rays: RHP Pete Fairbanks was placed on the 15-day injured list and ruled out for two to four weeks after an MRI revealed a right lat strain, the same type of injury he sustained in 2022 that benched the closer for nearly half the season. Fairbanks struck out 44 in just over 45 innings and posted a 3.57 ERA while earning 23 saves this season. Athletics: RHP Austin Adams was placed on the 15-day injured list Thursday with right forearm tendinitis but expected to return in the near future. ... INF Tyler Soderstrom continues to make progress after being sidelined with a left wrist injury in July but still does not have a timetable for his return.

Rays RHP Shane Baz (0-2, 4.21 ERA) starts against Athletics RHP Joey Estes (5-5, 4.72).

How can I watch Tampa Bay Rays vs. Oakland Athletics?

TV Channel: Rays at Athletics 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Athletics: 51.8%

Rays: 48.2%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Walls lined out to center.
	9th Inning	Siri walked.
	9th Inning	Carlson struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Caminero grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Miller relieved Ferguson
	8th Inning	Andujar struck out swinging.

Statistics

TB		OAK
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
9	Ground Balls	11
11	Strikeouts	6
0	Runs Batted In	3
0	Sacrifice Hit	1
2	Hits	6
1	Stolen Bases	0
5	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
0	Runs	3
0	Ground Into Double Play	2
0	Sacrifice Flies	1
30	At Bats	26
0	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
15	Runners Left On Base	10
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	1
10	Fly Balls	11
0	Caught Stealing	0
154	Pitches	115
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
2	Total Bases	10
35	Plate Appearances	31
0.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
0	Extra Base Hits	2
-0.1	Runs Created	2.6
.067	Batting Average	.231
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.067	Slugging Percentage	.385
.200	Secondary Average	.269
.200	On Base Percentage	.300
.267	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.685
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.0
-0.1	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.0
3.0	Batter Rating	23.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	26.0
1.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.40	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.71
.000	Isolated Power	.154
0.45	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.50
.143	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.097
.133	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.038
0.0	Runs Produced	6.0
0.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.2	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.1	Balls In Play Average	0.3
54.8	MLB Rating	75.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0