Rays stay rolling as 8-run 8th secures 7th straight win

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Freddy Peralta believes. Why wouldn’t he?

Since being activated by the Rays on Aug. 3 after his acquistion from the Mets the previous day, Peralta has been nothing but impressed by a club that has done nothing but win.

So even when the Athletics scored three runs after Peralta exited his start on Monday to make it a four-run game in the seventh inning, Peralta -- watching from the visitors’ clubhouse at Sutter Health Park -- had plenty of faith. As the Rays ripped hit after hit to start the eighth inning, he wasn’t surprised.

“I was believing it, because I’ve been watching how special this team is,” Peralta said. “When they started hitting, I was like, ‘OK. They’re coming. They’re coming.’”

The Rays practically never stopped their late charge in Monday’s 10-6 win over the A’s, flipping the script with eight runs in the eighth to win their seventh straight game -- all on the road.

The first eight Tampa Bay baserunners all reached base as the club sent 12 men to the plate in the fateful inning. Junior Caminero cut the lead to one run with a three-run homer, Chandler Simpson tied the game with a single to right and Taylor Walls delivered the go-ahead blow, a two-run base hit to right-center.

After consecutive sweeps of the Rockies and Mariners away from home, the Rays proved that their second-half momentum made it onto the plane to West Sacramento.

“We’re united,” Caminero said through team interpreter Kevin Vera. “We take that onto the road wherever we go, and it’s really our key to this season -- how we’ve been able to do that the entire year.”

After all, there are plenty of reasons the Rays are now 72-46, own the best record in the American League and sit six games above the Yankees for first place in the AL East.

The potent top of the lineup has been one of the biggest factors, and that was evident in Monday’s win as leadoff man Yandy Díaz went 3-for-4, starting the game with a 439-foot home run and adding a double in the sixth, a single to kick-start the eighth-inning rally and a sacrifice fly later in the frame.

First baseman Jonathan Aranda, batting second, went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. In the No. 3 hole, Caminero flied out twice to left field and grounded out before driving a hanging slider from A’s reliever Seth Johnson over the wall in left.

It was the only extra-base hit in the Rays’ massive eighth, an inning characterized by passing the bat from hitter to hit rather than swinging for the fences. After Caminero’s 34th dinger of the year, Ryan Vilade drew a walk and Jonny DeLuca singled before Simpson’s tying hit. Nick Fortes followed with a walk to load the bases for Walls, who slashed an opposite-field single to deliver the lead.

“Other than Cami’s big home run, a lot of balls went the other way,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “We were staying on pitches, not looking to do too much, and pieced together a really big inning for us.”

It was the Rays’ highest-scoring inning since a nine-run third against the Red Sox on April 14, 2025, at Tropicana Field in a 16-1 romp. Monday’s game was much different, though: It was tight and low-scoring through six innings as Peralta turned in a quality start in his second Rays outing.

After allowing seven runs in 3 2/3 frames in his club debut last Tuesday in Colorado (in a game the Rays also came back to win), the right-hander expressed optimism about his latest performance. He allowed three earned runs in six innings, allowing six hits, walking one and striking out five.

“I think there’s some confidence I have now because I felt good on the mound today,” Peralta said.

There appears to be confidence to go around since a Trade Deadline that both bolstered the roster and lifted the spirits of a club already in good shape. Before Monday’s game, pitcher Nick Martinez hypothesized that the Rays’ Deadline acquisitions -- including Peralta, catcher Liam Hicks and reliever Tyler Wells -- might just be the club’s “lucky charms” during the stretch run.

Of course, the Rays know it’s more than luck fueling their outstanding season. Monday’s comeback win was proof.

“Every single day we go out on the field and we know that we’re not going to give up, and today just kind of embodied that,” Caminero said. “Everybody did their part.”