Ryan Mountcastle hit his seventh and eighth home runs, helping the Baltimore Orioles win 9-5 against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
Mountcastle drove in four runs in his first game of the season with multiple home runs, marking his ninth career multi-home run game. The Orioles hit four home runs and scored nine runs in just over three innings against Rays starter Taj Bradley (1-3).
“When he keeps his approach simple and focuses on hitting to the middle of the field, he becomes a special hitter,” commented manager Brandon Hyde about Mountcastle, who has 17 hits in his last 37 plate appearances. “And we saw that today.”
Anthony Santander and Jordan Westburg also hit home runs, contributing to the Orioles’ third consecutive win and eighth win in nine games.
Jacob Webb (1-3) pitched 2 1/3 innings without allowing any hits in relief of Kyle Bradish, who had his shortest start of the season, retiring only eight batters.
Dillion Tate, Cionel Perez, Yennier Cano, and Keegan Akin combined to pitch 6 1/3 scoreless innings in relief, securing the victory for Baltimore. This win marked the Orioles’ 19th consecutive series without a loss against AL East opponents.
“Our bullpen really saved the game for us,” said Westburg.
Yandy Diaz drove in three runs with a triple and a bases-loaded walk for the Tampa Bay Rays, who have lost two consecutive games at the start of their five-game road trip.
Rays manager Kevin Cash was ejected by plate umpire Chad Fairchild in the third inning, marking his first ejection of the year. This came after Jose Siri was ejected for the second time after striking out in the ninth inning of Friday night’s 3-1 loss.
“Chad is a really good umpire, one of the best maybe,” explained Cash afterward. “We just had a little disagreement on some of the calls.”
Mountcastle’s two home runs, both with two-run shots, marked the beginning and end of Bradley’s shortest start since returning from the 15-day injured list last month.
