Field Level Media
Aug 30, 2020
Willy Adames hit a grand slam that caromed off the tip of left fielder Corey Dickerson's glove as the Tampa Bay Rays recorded a 12-7 win over the host Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon.
The American League East-leading Rays improved to 18-3 in their last 21 games after posting a three-game sweep of Miami.
Miami was led by Garrett Cooper, who also had four RBIs. He blasted a solo homer and added a three-run double.
Miami, which has lost four straight games, was also led by Dickerson, the former Rays outfielder who homered in the fourth inning. That homer snapped a Marlins' 22-inning scoreless streak.
In addition, Rays pitchers had tossed 39 consecutive scoreless innings at Marlins Park prior to Dickerson's blast.
Blake Snell, the 2018 AL Cy Young award winner, improved to 3-0 after allowing two runs and four hits while striking out five in five innings.
Miami's Sandy Alcantara, who won on Opening Day and then sat out more than a month after testing positive for COVID-19, made his return to the mound but took the loss. Alcantara (1-1) lasted four-plus innings, permitting eight runs (five earned) on six hits.
Tampa Bay scored on the third pitch of the game as leadoff batter Joey Wendle pulled a 1-1 changeup 399 feet to right. After Yandy Diaz was hit with a fastball, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo made Alcantara pay, pulling a changeup 407 feet to right, giving the Rays a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
The Rays stretched their lead to 5-0 with a pair of unearned runs in the fourth. Two Marlins throwing errors -- by second baseman Jonathan Villar and third baseman Brian Anderson -- aided Tampa Bay, which had just one hit in the inning.
Dickerson's homer in the fourth cut Miami's deficit to 5-1.
However, Miami made its third error of the game in the fifth, this time a fielding miscue by normally reliable Miguel Rojas. That helped Tampa Bay score seven runs in the frame and chased Alcantara.
The big blow in the inning was Adames' grand slam, a blast which left Dickerson staring at an empty glove at the end of the play. The Rays also got a two-run homer from Kevin Kiermaier and Hunter Renfroe's RBI double in the frame.
Trailing 12-1, Lewis Brinson belted his first homer of the season in the fifth and Cooper followed suit in the sixth.
Miami added four runs in the seventh, a rally keyed by Cooper's bases-clearing double, but that was close as it got for the Marlins.
--Field Level Media