ST. PETERSBURG -- After a rough week, at least by the standard they’ve set this season, the Rays finished the month of May looking a lot more like themselves in a 5-2 win over the Angels on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field.
Shane McClanahan put together another strong start, with help from some occasionally spectacular defense. The bullpen held a lead. Jonathan Aranda launched a first-inning homer and remained as hot as any hitter in baseball, while the rest of the lineup scratched across runs however they could find them.
And after being swept for the first time this season in Baltimore, the Rays bounced back from Saturday’s lopsided loss to secure their sixth straight series victory inside their home dome.
“We played more like ourselves,” McClanahan said. “I think one thing this clubhouse did a really good job of was not getting too high, not getting too low. So, to be able to respond the way we did this series was good.”
Sunday was only the Rays’ second victory in their past seven games, but shortstop Taylor Walls noted the situation hasn’t been as dire as it occasionally felt. They split a series at Yankee Stadium last weekend, then lost one in Baltimore and won this three-game set against the Angels.
They still have the best record in the American League at 36-20. They’ve still won 12 of the 19 series they’ve played this season. And they’re still capable of winning games with full-squad efforts the way they did Sunday.
“This is a step forward, I think,” Walls said. “Carry that over into tomorrow, and we'll be good.”
McClanahan and Aranda set the tone for Sunday’s win, which felt fitting considering how dominant they were throughout the past month.
McClanahan held an entirely right-handed Angels lineup to just one run on four hits over five innings, breezing through the outing on only 70 pitches. That left him 4-0 with a 1.41 ERA over six starts in May, the lowest ERA among AL pitchers who worked at least 30 innings this month.
“Really, really impressive,” manager Kevin Cash said.
McClanahan had plenty of help from his infield defense, including two highlight-reel plays by Walls at shortstop and Junior Caminero at third base.
With two outs in the third, Walls ranged into the hole to snag a Vaughn Grissom grounder and made an off-balance, on-target throw to Aranda to end the inning.
“Taylor Walls is the best shortstop in the league, and to watch him go to work every single day? Truly, it's an honor,” McClanahan said. “There's probably six or seven or eight plays so far this season where I'm like, ‘It's a hit,’ and there's Taylor.”
While the Rays have come to expect elite defense from Walls, Caminero expects it of himself. That’s why he has worked tirelessly before games with third-base/infield coach Brady Williams, and it’s why everyone -- including Caminero -- was so fired up when he started the fifth inning by making a full-extension stop on a grounder from Logan O’Hoppe, springing to his feet and making a strong throw to first.
“I'm feeling happy. I said, 'Wow, thank God,’” Caminero said. “And [thanks to] Brady Williams [for] giving me a lot of things, a lot of [support] behind me.”
Aranda got their lineup going by blasting a low-and-inside pitch from Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz -- well outside the strike zone in both directions -- into the right-field seats. It was nothing out of the ordinary for Aranda, who slashed .374/.464/.560 with 18 RBIs over 26 games in May and now has 11 homers and 43 RBIs on the year.
“He’s locked in, dude. When he's the way that he is now, he can get to anything,” Walls said. “For him to just drop the barrel of the bat to it like that and pull it like he was dead-red sitting on it, it's crazy.”
The Rays got to Kochanowicz again in the third. Aranda and Richie Palacios walked, then Caminero legged out an infield single to load the bases with nobody out. Victor Mesa Jr. smacked an RBI single to center with one out, and Cedric Mullins walked to score another run, although the inning ended with former Ray Jose Siri making an outstanding catch to rob Walls of a potential grand slam.
The Angels made it a 3-2 game in the seventh, when O’Hoppe swatted a homer off the left-field pole, but the Rays immediately answered with a single by Ben Williamson -- his first career pinch-hit RBI -- and another bases-loaded walk by Yandy Díaz.
“We went through a little bit of a rough stretch, but now, we're back at home, and we were able to bounce back,” Aranda said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “Hopefully, things keep playing this way, and hopefully, we keep this momentum going.”