Can't knock the hustle: Vilade's superfluous slide sets tone for win No. 60

ST. PETERSBURG -- Ryan Vilade knew he’d spend some time on the dirt Friday night, as he made his first Major League start at second base in the Rays’ series opener against the Guardians at Tropicana Field.

But it wound up being some dirt on Vilade that set the tone for another huge offensive outburst in the Rays’ 11-3 victory, which made them the first American League team to reach the 60-win mark this season and improved their MLB-best record at home to 36-15.

Batting with a runner on second in the second inning, Vilade jumped on a first-pitch changeup from Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo and ripped it toward the first row of seats beyond the left-field wall. The ball cleared the fence, but it wound up bouncing off a young fan’s glove before landing back on the field.

The Trop’s lights dimmed and the home run horn blared, but Vilade kept running until he left his feet for a head-first dive into third base. The last time he looked to the outfield, he saw left fielder David Fry leap into the wall and the ball on the turf. He thought it might have been in play.

“I was like, 'All right, well, we're just gonna keep going,’” Vilade said, grinning. “Then I slid, and I heard the horn go off. I was like, 'Homer?' Then I got fired up.”

Vilade stood up, pumped his fist, high-fived third-base coach Brady Williams and trotted the rest of the way home with a two-run lead in hand.

Vilade’s all-out effort, even if it wasn’t totally necessary, was emblematic of the all-encompassing impact the bottom of Tampa Bay’s lineup had throughout the night.

“A lot to like offensively, obviously,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Look, the middle part to the back half really did maybe as impressive a job as we could ask for.”

It started with Vilade, who put the Rays ahead with his eighth homer of the season -- and his fifth on the first pitch of an at-bat.

“You've just got to stay aggressive and be ready to hit, because it might be your best one [that] you get that at-bat,” Vilade said. “I don't really know if there's anything to it, but it's just kind of worked out like that.”

But this win was once again a group effort for the Rays.

Richie Palacios replaced Vilade at second in the seventh inning … and wound up launching a three-run homer in the eighth. It was the eighth time in franchise history -- but the second time this season -- that a Rays hitter homered from the same spot in the order as a player who went deep earlier in the same game, according to Stats Perform.

Jonny DeLuca had two hits, including an RBI single after Cedric Mullins’ leadoff triple from the cleanup spot sparked a three-run fourth inning. Chandler Simpson picked up two hits, including a hustle double, from the six-hole.

But Simpson might have been more pleased with the diving catch he made in left field in the fourth inning. Starter Shane McClanahan certainly was.

“That was sick,” said McClanahan, who bounced back from a rough outing in Boston by allowing just one run over five innings. “He’s taken probably 10 runs off my ERA, so I owe him a ton.”

Starting at shortstop and batting eighth while Taylor Walls took another day to rest the sore fingers on his left hand, Ben Williamson drove in a run and made a spectacular diving play up the middle in the seventh. Williamson pulled off another impressive snag to end the game behind right-hander Chris Roycroft, who earned his first save by pitching the final three innings.

“How lucky are we to have a guy that can fill in behind what I would say is the best defensive shortstop in baseball to come in and make plays like that?” Cash said. “Our pitchers really appreciate it.”

And who had a better night than catcher Nick Fortes? He continued his recent surge at the plate with a career-high-tying four hits and a pair of RBIs. Fortes credited his consistent pregame work with assistant hitting coach Ozzie Timmons, and he said he has been looking to recreate what he feels during those sessions when he steps into the batter’s box.

That seems to be the prevailing attitude for everyone hitting near the bottom of Tampa Bay’s lineup -- and it’s working.

“Everyone's just trying to do their job, not trying to be anybody that they're not. Just sticking with their own plan and doing what they're good at,” Fortes said. “You're going to go through your lulls, your ups and downs, but for the bottom of the order to be able to start picking up the slack a little bit, it feels good to be able to contribute like we have been.”