Rays have reason to smile after skid-snapping win over Dodgers

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Aug 2, 2025

Published in Baseball

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TAMPA, Fla. — The questions were becoming as repetitive as the results, Rays players asked repeatedly over the last few days what it was going to take to get them out of the majors-worst 8-22 skid that followed their 25-9 run as the league’s best team.

“You just keep going,” closer Pete Fairbanks said Saturday morning. “Of the four major sports that are played in the U.S. ... I would say you’re going to get the most volatility in hockey, one, and then baseball, two. It happens. The game is volatile. You experience significantly more luck in those two sports than you do in the other ones. So, that’s why you play 162 (games). You have the chance for stuff to happen that you don’t see in the game prior and you won’t see in the game after.

“So, we’re going to keep doing our thing and eventually things will turn, because we’re the same team that went (25-9). I don’t think that’s changed. Sometimes you get worse results, but we’re going to do what we do and hopefully turn it back to what we are.”

They took a step in that direction Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 win over the Dodgers, snapping their four-game losing streak and shaking hands for just the second time in the past 11 days as they improved to 55-57.

What did it take?

Home runs by Yandy Diaz his first two times up against former teammate Blake Snell certainly helped, staking the Rays to a 3-0 lead by the third inning, and Junior Caminero adding his 28th homer in the sixth.

A strong start by Drew Rasmussen was key, as he worked into the sixth, allowing only four singles to the star-studded Dodgers (striking out Shohei Ohtani twice), walking none and striking out six. It was his majors-leading 10th start (five or more innings) with no extra-base hits.

The infielders definitely lent a hand, turning two double plays, and Diaz making an impressive play behind first.

And the much criticized bullpen had a good day, as Garrett Cleavinger got a key double play to end the sixth (after allowing two singles), Edwin Uceta retired all six Dodgers he faced and Fairbanks finished with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the power trio of Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez.

“Our mentality was to attack early ... and thank God things went well for us (Saturday), especially with the way we’ve been playing lately,” Diaz said via team interpreter Eddie Rodriguez. “We weren’t having a very good moment, but hopefully from (Saturday) on things are going to get better.”

Diaz’s first homer was a 326-foot fly ball to right field that only would have been a homer at Steinbrenner Field among the 30 current big league parks.

“It doesn’t matter,” Diaz said. “It’s still a homer and an RBI.”

It came on the fifth pitch of the day by Snell, who was making his first start since early April due to an extended bout of left shoulder inflammation. It was the 900th hit of Diaz’s career.

Diaz went deep again with one out in the third, bringing in Taylor Walls, who led off with a single.

Caminero made it 4-0 by going deep with one out in the sixth.

And the pitchers, who shut out the Dodgers by allowing six singles and no walks, took it from there.

“In my opinion, that’s the best way to win a baseball game,” Fairbanks said afterward. “You don’t let the other team score. You score some runs. Everybody goes home happy. So, we’d like to build on it. I feel like I’ve said that numerous times after wins, and we haven’t been able to build on it.

“But we’ve got a super-talented arm (Joe Boyle) going (Sunday). We’re able to get to a two-time Cy Young winner (Saturday) and then tag on another insurance run later and take some good swings, have some good at-bats, and pair that with good pitching.

“That’s a good recipe, and we’d like to repeat it. And hopefully we do repeat it.”