Field Level Media
Jul 27, 2020
Tampa Bay's Hunter Renfroe swatted two home runs, including back-to-back shots with Joey Wendle in an eight-run fourth inning, as the Rays beat the Atlanta Braves 14-5 on Monday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The Rays sent up 11 batters in the deciding frame against Atlanta starter Mike Foltynewicz (0-1) -- using four hits, three walks and a hit batter to extend their winning streak to three games.
The eight runs were Tampa Bay's most in an inning since scoring nine in the first against Toronto on Oct. 4, 2015.
Rays starter Tyler Glasnow fired four strong innings, striking out nine, walking two and allowing just a solo homer.
Diego Castillo (1-0) worked a perfect fifth, and Rays pitchers recorded 19 strikeouts, setting a team record for the most in a nine-inning game.
Renfroe finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs, and Brandon Lowe was 2-for-3 with a double, triple, two RBIs and two runs. Jose Martinez had two hits, including a homer, and three RBIs. Mike Zunino belted a solo shot.
Foltynewicz allowed six runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings in his first start since yielding seven runs in a 10-run first inning to St. Louis in the deciding Game 5 of the National League Division Series last October. He was designated for assignment after the game.
Matt Adams and Dansby Swanson both homered for Atlanta.
Swanson and Zunino traded solo home runs to open the scoring for both clubs before the Rays' big fourth broke the contest wide open.
Renfroe went deep for the first time as a member of the Rays with a three-run homer to left center. Wendle sent the next pitch to right for his first and a 5-1 lead.
With two outs and two on against reliever Touki Toussaint, Lowe hit a long fly to center that Gold Glove center fielder Ender Inciarte appeared to lose against the off-white Tropicana Field roof. Lowe turned it into a triple and then scored on a wild pitch.
Renfroe's solo shot to center off Toussaint in the fifth made it 10-1.
Atlanta scored four in the sixth on Freddie Freeman's RBI single and Adams' three-run homer to left to bring it to 10-5, but Martinez answered with a two-run single in the bottom half.
Willy Adames had an RBI double in the seventh, and Martinez added the Rays' fifth homer in the eighth.
--Field Level Media