Matz rebounds with 7 IP as Rays continue to dominate AL teams

CLEVELAND -- Determined to bounce back from his worst start this season, Steven Matz sat in Tampa Bay's dugout and watched as his teammates rallied for him.

It's what these Rays do best.

“That’s kind of the identity that this team carries,” Matz said. “We’re never out of it. It’s a scrappy team.”

Matz, who got roughed up last week in a three-inning start against Cincinnati, allowed just four hits while working a season-high seven innings. Meanwhile, Jonathan Aranda homered as the Rays came back to win their fifth straight game with a 3-2 win over the Guardians on Monday night.

With the win, the Rays improved to 12-1 against AL teams. Tampa Bay is just the seventh team to win 12 of its first 13 games against AL opponents, joining Milwaukee (1987), Detroit (1911, 1984), Oakland (1981), Cleveland (1966) and Baltimore (1966).

1984), Oakland (1981), Cleveland (1966) and Baltimore (1966).

Ryan Vilade had three hits and drove in two runs as the Rays won their ninth straight game against AL Central teams. Meanwhile, they're just 5-10 against the NL Central.

“That is quirky,” manager Kevin Cash said. "A lot of season left, but I certainly like the way we’re playing.”

One month shy of turning 35, Matz held the Guardians in check in his longest outing since Oct. 1, 2021, when he pitched for Toronto. The Rays signed Matz, who pitched primarily as a reliever last season in Boston and St. Louis, to a two-year, $15 million free agent deal during the offseason hoping he could hold down a starting spot.

He's done that, and more.

“A lot," Cash said when asked what Matz has meant to the Rays in the early part of this season. "We signed him and we knew we were committed to him to be a starter, but what we’ve gotten to date, even the buildup in Spring Training, really solidified the thought that this guy can do a lot of good things for us.

"He’s really tough on lefties and he mixes very well against righties to keep the ball off the barrel.”

Matz (4-1, 4.31 ERA) matched Cleveland's Parker Messick for four innings before two pitches nearly wrecked a solid performance in the fifth.

With the score tied 0-0, Matz battled David Fry in a tense, 10-pitch plate appearance before Cleveland's DH got a called third strike overturned by an ABS challenge and walked. Matz then threw an 80-mph slider that didn't slide enough, and Daniel Schneemann homered to put the Guardians up 2-0.

It was Matz's only major mistake.

“Looking back, I probably should have taken a second and stepped back off the mound,” said Matz, who improved to 4-0 with a 1.86 ERA in nine appearances against Cleveland. "But I kept going and going and I left a ball up to Schneemann.”

Matz got some defensive help an inning later when second baseman Ben Williamson launched himself in the air to make a spectacular diving catch to steal a base hit from Cleveland's Angel Martínez.

“It was incredible," Matz said of Williamson's horizontal snag. "He came out of nowhere flying through the air. It was really cool. He’s a great player.”

The Rays closed to 2-1 in the sixth on Vilade's RBI single. After Matz was pulled after seven innings and 95 pitches, Tampa Bay tied the game in the eighth on Aranda's seventh homer (the Rays have gone deep in six consecutive games), and Vilade, who is batting .458 (11-of-24) in his last 10 games, hit a go-ahead RBI single.

Closer Bryan Baker made things interesting in the ninth by giving up a one-out single and a double before getting back-to-back strikeouts to earn his seventh save.

Like Matz, Vilade is another of the newer Rays, who acquired him during the offseason in a trade with Cincinnati.

"He has a great personality and fits in so well in this clubhouse,” Matz said of Vilade. “I think that could be said of this clubhouse in general. Everybody feels like they fit in. There's no cliques.”

For Vilade, Tampa Bay is a fresh start. It’s also a chance to be on a team he already feels deeply connected with.

“We’re gritty,” he said after the Rays improved to 5-1 in one-run games. “We got a great group of guys. Great chemistry. We love showing up to the field every day and we’re going to compete until the last out. … We know our roles here and Cashy likes to use everyone.”