Yandy Diaz had two doubles, a home run and two RBIs and the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-3 on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Jose Siri tacked on a two-run homer in the eighth inning as part of the Rays’ 13-hit attack.
Cooper Criswell (1-1), who gave up one run in four innings of relief, collected his first big-league win.
Noah Syndergaard (1-4) pitched six innings for Los Angeles but allowed six runs on eight hits.
The Rays are facing the Dodgers for the first time since the 2020 World Series, won by Los Angeles in six games.
The Rays went with an opener, and left-hander Jalen Beeks found himself behind just three batters into the game. After walking Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman singled and Will Smith slapped an RBI single to right.
Beeks worked 1 2/3 innings, allowing one run before being replaced by Criswell.
Tampa Bay responded quickly with two runs off Syndergaard in the first.
Leading off the inning, Diaz doubled and moved to third on Wander Franco’s infield single. Brandon Lowe picked up an RBI on a groundout to second, and Josh Lowe laced a two-out RBI single.
The Rays added two more runs in the second inning. Christian Bethancourt doubled, and after Luke Raley walked, Siri’s single loaded the bases. Diaz drove in a run with a groundout to third, and Franco lifted a sacrifice fly to deep right-center.
In the third inning, the Dodgers chipped back to 4-2 with a run on J.D. Martinez’s RBI single, which scored Freeman.
Tampa Bay countered with a two-out rally and manufactured a run off Syndergaard in the third inning. Taylor Walls floated a single to center, stole second and third and scored on Bethancourt’s RBI single to left.
Diaz’s home run in the fourth inning made it 6-2. Brandon Lowe had an RBI single in the seventh inning.
Chris Taylor’s RBI double in the eighth inning plated the Dodgers’ third run.
–Field Level Media