ST. LOUIS -- The Rays only hit one home run during their opening series against the Cardinals. Junior Caminero spent a lot more time walking down the first-base line than he did trotting around the bases. Their offense was more about slapping and slashing than slugging.
But Tampa Bay’s lineup enjoyed a productive start to the season, and the Rays finally got a win to show for their efforts on Sunday afternoon.
The Rays rode a trio of three-run innings to a 11-7 win over the Cardinals in the series finale, avoiding a season-opening sweep before heading to Milwaukee for the second leg of a three-city road trip.
After racking up seven runs and 17 hits on Opening Day, then awakening after six hitless innings to score five runs on seven hits in Saturday’s defeat, the Rays rapped 17 hits and used their speed to their advantage in Sunday’s series finale.
In the second inning, Chandler Simpson slapped a leadoff single to left field -- the sort of opposite-field contact he focused on in Spring Training -- then sped home on Jonny DeLuca’s double to left-center field. DeLuca then used his wheels to create another run, advancing to third on a flyout by Richie Palacios before scoring on a wild pitch by Cardinals starter Dustin May.
The rally didn’t stop there, though. Carson Williams turned a ground-ball single to center into a hustle double, moved up 90 feet on a single by Hunter Feduccia and scored on the second of Yandy Díaz's five hits.
The big bats at the top of the order played an even more prominent role in Tampa Bay’s fourth-inning rally, but it started with a walk by No. 9-hitting Feduccia. Then came three straight doubles by Díaz, Jonathan Aranda and Cedric Mullins.
That was enough margin for error for starter Steven Matz and the Rays bullpen. Making his Rays debut against his former Cardinals teammates, Matz gave up a three-run homer to Jordan Walker but otherwise limited the damage in his five innings.
High-leverage left-hander Garrett Cleavinger loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh but escaped unscathed.