ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Shane McClanahan pitched six effective innings, Brett Phillips drove in three runs and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels 13-3 Saturday for their fourth straight win.
Manuel Margot and Mike Zunino homered for Tampa Bay. Ji-Man Choi had four hits and drove in two runs as the Rays improved to 6-0 against the Angels this season
“I’m going to tell you what it’s like, it’s like waking up on Christmas morning as a kid and seeing all the presents,” Phillips said. “All the exciting things that you can imagine when you score a lot of runs like that. Everyone is excited and happy.”
Seven Tampa Bay players scored and eight had a hit.
The Angels have lost five in a row overall.
“We just got beat,” Los Angeles manager Joe Maddon said. “We’ve just to throw this one away and come back tomorrow and play it right.”
McClanahan (3-2) allowed three runs and four hits, all coming in the third inning.
“That’s just baseball,” McClanahan said. “Reset my mind and kept attacking.”
Phillips, hitless in his previous 15 at-bats, connected on a two-run triple to deep center off Alex Cobb (5-3). He scored on a wild pitch during a four-run fourth as Tampa Bay went up 6-3.
Phillips added an RBI single in a five-run seventh that made it 13-3.
Cobb dropped to 0-6 in eight starts against his former team after giving up six runs and six hits in four innings. He went 48-35 with Tampa Bay from 2011-17.
Shohei Ohtani bounced an RBI double over Choi at first base and Anthony Rendon flared a two-run double down the right-field line off an 100-mph fastball from McClanahan as the Angels took a 3-2 lead in the third.
Ohtani’s hit left the bat at 29 mph, the lowest to result in an extra-base hit since StatCast data is available starting in 2015.
“When you’ve got a lead, you’ve got to hold onto it,” Maddon said. “You’ve got to finish games off, all the different things that a winning team does. That is winning baseball, and that’s what we have to do.”
Los Angeles scored twice in the first inning of Friday’s 4-3 loss to the Rays.
The Angels loaded the bases later in the third when rookie shortstop Wander Franco was charged with his first big league error after misplaying Taylor Ward’s two-out grounder. McClanahan avoided further damage by getting a fly ball from José Iglesias.
Margot hit a two-run drive off Cobb during the second. It was just the third homer allowed by the right-hander in 11 starts this season.
Zunino hit his 16th homer in the sixth.
Franco went 0 for 4 and had his average drop to .105. He is hitless in 16 at-bats since having a homer and double Tuesday in his major league debut. He walked with the bases loaded in the seventh.
“Nothing that we’re concerned about,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “Yesterday he just misses a ball. He smoked a ball that the right fielder made a nice play on. If he keeps hitting balls like that, they’re going to find holes.”
OHTANI!
Ohtani’s homer off a catwalk about 65 feet above the right-field stands Friday continued to be a topic of discussion.
Maddon believes it went farther than the estimated 453 feet.
“If it didn’t hit the ring I’m not sure it would have gone out” a laughing Cash said. “Nobody else can do what he does, both sides of the ball.”
Cash is also amazed at Ohtani’s foot speed.
“He gets down the line as fast as anybody I’ve seen,” Cash said.
BONUS BULLPEN
The Rays have the best AL bullpen ERA and a key contributor from the 2020 AL championship team, RHP Nick Anderson, is throwing off a mound and expected back in August.
Anderson (right elbow sprain) had an 0.55 ERA in 19 games last year.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: LHP Josh Fleming (right calf strain) went on the 10-day IL.
UP NEXT
Angels LHP Patrick Sandoval (2-2) will start Sunday. Rays LHP Ryan Yarbrough (4-3) will either start or follow an opener.
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