Power, punchouts get Rays back on track vs. Yankees

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays got back to their winning ways at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night, mashing three home runs and striking out 17 batters in a 6-4 win over the Yankees.

The victory halted the Rays’ three-game losing streak, improved their record to 53-36 and re-established a four-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East.

It also made the Rays the fourth team in baseball’s Modern Era to pitch consecutive games with at least 17 strikeouts, joining three teams (Cleveland, Houston and Washington) who did so in 2016.

“It's been a pretty impressive stretch that we've been on,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We've got guys that have good stuff, and when you're getting ahead of guys … hitters are probably going to expand when they're in those 0-2, 1-2 [count] situations.”

Here are four takeaways from Tampa Bay’s power-hitting, bat-missing win.

1. Seymour’s got strikeout stuff.
A night after Griffin Jax tied his career best with 10 strikeouts, left-hander Ian Seymour -- also making a relatively seamless transition back into the rotation -- racked up a career-high 12 strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.

Seymour gave up a three-run homer to Ben Rice in the third inning, but that was the only mark against him in an otherwise excellent start. He has now put together three of his most impressive outings in a row, recording a 1.33 ERA with 27 strikeouts and only two walks during that stretch.

Seymour appeared to be in complete command of his three-pitch mix, using a nearly even distribution to keep the Yankees off-balance. The deceptive southpaw forced New York’s hitters to whiff on 17 of their 45 swings, piling up strikeouts with his changeup (five), fastball (four) and sweeper (three).

“The theme that I've been going over time and time again is getting ahead of guys,” he said. “Once you have the leverage of count control, it just gives you more opportunity to change speeds and gives you a couple more opportunities to chase a whiff.”

2. Yandy’s going to be fine.
Yandy Díaz is such a consistently excellent hitter that his slumps stand out more than most, and he entered Tuesday in a rare 1-for-20 skid. But he delivered two big hits against Yankees starter Will Warren: an RBI single to left field in the second inning, followed by a solo homer to right in the fourth.

He’s now fifth on the franchise’s all-time RBI list, with 451. Is he back on track?

“Best hitter in the league,” outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. said. “He's been not that good lately, but after today, life is back to normal.”

Díaz said it was a simple adjustment, as he lowered his hands in his stance and found it “just felt good.” Seeing him come through produced the same feeling for the Rays.

“He's as important as anybody in our offense, and [we] need to get him going,” Cash said. “It was just probably a matter of time, a matter of one at-bat to get him going.”

3. The Rays have some pop, too.
These teams are on opposite ends of the power spectrum, as the Yankees lead the Majors in homers while the Rays rank 13th in the AL, but that wasn’t the case this time out.

After being held without a homer in their past two games, Tampa Bay cracked three off Warren: a second-inning solo shot by Mesa, followed by back-to-back blasts from Hunter Feduccia (the second of his career) and Díaz (his 13th of the season) in the fourth.

“Nothing beats that,” Feduccia said. “Any day you can help the team win, it's a good day.”

The Rays are simply not built to outmuscle their opponents, but the numbers show what happens when they do. They improved to 40-12 this season when hitting at least one homer and 20-4 when going deep twice or more.

4. Start it from the bottom.
It can’t always be the “Big Three” of Díaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero leading Tampa Bay's lineup. Even if the Rays reinforce their lineup at the Trade Deadline, they need more from the other spots in the order.

Fortunately, the other guys came through on Tuesday.

Mesa launched his fourth homer of the season in the second, a high-arcing shot to right. Then Richie Palacios singled with two outs, Feduccia kept the inning alive with a walk and Díaz drove in Palacios.

The Rays’ four-run fourth also started with the bottom of the order. Taylor Walls hit a one-out single to right, Palacios smacked an RBI double, then the No. 9-hitting Feduccia smashed the biggest hit of the night.

“Top of the lineup's been picking this up all year, so it's good to yin and yang it,” Feduccia said. “That's what it's gonna take to get far.”