ST. PETERSBURG -- When the Rays acquired Nelson Cruz a week before the Trade Deadline, they saw him as the perfect upgrade for their lineup, a power threat who would do plenty of damage and a presence that would pick up everyone else around him. They imagined a lot of nights like Tuesday night.

Cruz went deep twice and drove in five runs in his 39th career multi-home run game, Mike Zunino homered in his fifth straight game, Randy Arozarena had four hits from atop the lineup and the Rays cruised to a 10-0 win over the Orioles at Tropicana Field. With the win and Boston’s pair of losses to the Yankees on Tuesday, Tampa Bay (73-47) lengthened its American League East lead to five games.

“Just great at-bats,” Cruz said. “I keep saying this over and over, I feel like, but it seems like every day it's a new guy to come up and do the job.”

Yes, the Rays are still built on pitching and defense. Right-hander Drew Rasmussen earned the opportunity to keep starting as he teamed up with Adam Conley and Chris Ellis, two relievers who have spent most of the season with Triple-A Durham, to complete Tampa Bay’s ninth shutout of the season. But these Rays can hit a little, too, if you haven’t noticed by now.

Since Cruz made his Rays debut on July 23, the Rays have had the Majors’ most prolific lineup. They’re averaging 6.65 runs per game since his arrival, and they’ve now scored at least eight runs in nine of their last 11 games. In the AL, only the Astros have scored more runs than the Rays this season, and only the Blue Jays and Twins have hit more homers.

Here are four more takeaways from the Rays’ 13th win in 14 matchups with the Orioles this season.

1. Rasmussen’s sticking around to start
The Rays bumped Rasmussen out of the bullpen and into the rotation last week at Fenway Park, looking to cover for Ryan Yarbrough’s temporary placement on the COVID-19-related IL. But even with Yarbrough returning Wednesday, it looks like Rasmussen will continue to start.

“I'm happy in either role,” Rasmussen said. “Wherever the team and the staff and the front office see me being the most valuable and the most helpful, I'm happy to do that.”

Rasmussen earned more starts by allowing just one run in eight innings over his two starts. He’s been efficient, needing only 56 pitches to get through four excellent innings as he retired 12 of the 14 Orioles he faced on Tuesday. So it’s no surprise manager Kevin Cash said the Rays will “continue to explore this and just see where it takes us.”

If he continues to pitch like this, Rasmussen could be an interesting stretch-run addition to Tampa Bay’s rotation.

“He's just filling up the zone with strikes. He's got a lot of power. The power is sustaining throughout the outings,” Cash added. “I mean, it looks very similar to the same pitcher from pitch one to pitch 50-whatever-it-is. … As long as his bounce-back is good and he's feeling good, why wouldn't we?”

2. Cruz is making a difference
Cruz had been in a 0-for-12 skid when he stepped up to face Orioles lefty John Means in the fifth inning. But his mini-slump ended with two big swings Tuesday night.

Cruz crushed a changeup to left for his first homer at Tropicana Field since joining the Rays, a three-run shot that gave them a 6-0 lead. In the sixth, he launched a Statcast-projected 437-foot blast to left off reliever Tanner Scott, a two-run moonshot that pushed him past Dave Kingman (442) and into 42nd place on the all-time home run leaderboard.

“Any time you hit homers, especially if you win, that's a plus,” Cruz said. “It makes it more exciting just to be able to feel like I'm contributing to winning games. That's what I'm here for.”

Cruz said he’s been putting in extra work lately to get his swing feeling right, but the Rays were hardly worried about Cruz. Even when he hasn’t been punishing baseballs the way he did Tuesday, though, Cash said his impact on the Rays’ lineup has been obvious.

“You see it every day, even the days that maybe he's not contributing to the biggest at-bat or the biggest moment,” Cash said. “The positive effect it has on everybody throughout the lineup, hitting in front of him, hitting behind him -- he has really added and thickened us up a lot.”

3. Zunino’s still on a tear
With the Rays up by one run in the fourth inning, Zunino crushed a 1-1 fastball from Means to left field for a two-run homer. It was the catcher’s fifth straight game with a home run (one shy of Carlos Peña’s franchise record) and his career-high 26th homer of the season.

“He's swinging the bat really, really well. Just not missing pitches,” Cash said. “It seems like when he gets a ball to handle, he's doing big, big damage with it. He's just putting together just an awesome season.”

Zunino’s 105.9 mph missile was only one example of what has made him arguably the Rays’ most valuable player this season. The other took place all night behind the plate, as he guided three pitchers through a four-hit, two-walk, 10-strikeout shutout.

4. Ellis earned a win and an unofficial save
Ellis, the 28-year-old right-hander making his Tampa Bay debut a day after being selected from Triple-A Durham, earned his first career win by striking out seven over four impressive innings.

In just his second appearance in the Majors, nearly 2 1/2 years after he first took the mound for the Royals on March 31, 2019, Ellis became the 13th pitcher to win his Rays debut as a reliever. Rasmussen called the righty’s effort “incredible” and “awesome to see,” and Cash praised Ellis for finishing the game -- and saving the rest of the Rays’ bullpen in the process.

“That’s awesome. We're really, really pumped,” Cash said. “The guys are pumped for him.”