ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Catcher Francisco Mejia came to the Rays last year and got adjusted to both his role as the backup to starter Mike Zunino as well as the Rays’ way of using bench players often and sometimes unpredictably.
He then learned how to take advantage of the opportunities, establishing himself as one of their most clutch hitters.
Mejia has carried that into the early days of this season. After bringing home the winning run in Friday’s opener with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly, Mejia led the way to Saturday afternoon’s 5-3 victory over the Orioles with an RBI single and two-run homer.
Rookie Josh Lowe also had a hand in the offense, tripling in front of Mejia in the second and singling in the third.
Drew Rasmussen and Josh Fleming took care of the bulk of the pitching as the Rays started the season 2-0 for the second straight year but just the fifth time in 25.
Rasmussen started and worked four innings, allowing the two runs on a two-out homer by Ryan Mountcastle in the third. Fleming took over in the fifth and got one out into the eighth with a strong outing of his own. J.P. Feyereisen finished the eighth, and Andrew Kittredge worked the ninth, allowing a run.
The Rays took a 3-0 lead in the second. Josh Lowe, who worked impressive at-bats in Friday’s opener, seeing 28 pitches in four appearances, got them started with another strong showing, lacing a ball up the middle and racing around to third. Mejia put them ahead with a single to right.
A Kevin Kiermaier ground-rule double and Taylor Walls walk loaded the bases, and the Rays added on with productive outs. Brett Phillips got one run home with a hard grounder to first, and Wander Franco the other with a scorching liner to right.
The Orioles got two back in the third off Rasmussen in the only messy inning of his four. He walked Jorge Mateo to lead off the inning, then with two outs allowed the homer to Mountcastle.
The Rays re-extended their lead to 5-2, with Lowe and Mejia again playing roles. Lowe singled with one out, and Mejia hit a two-run homer.
Tampa Bay entered the game coming off a tense, thrilling and very Rays-like 2-1, opening-day victory, rallying for the go-ahead run in the eighth before holding down the Orioles in the ninth, with new reliever Brooks Raley finishing it off.
“It was Rays baseball,” Raley said. “Having played against them for years, I was like, this is right in the trenches of what they do. So it was cool to be on this side of it.”
Raley, who pitched for the Reds and Astros in 2020-21 after returning from a five-year stint in Korea, was clearly excited after getting the final out.
“I’m not really an emotional guy, but I was pretty fired up,” he said. “Opening Day — I’ve thrown in a couple of different opening days, and (Friday) was just special.”
Also special was his first experience with the Rays’ postgame celebrations, where the team gathers under a disco ball and around team leader Kiermaier, who shouts out all the players who had a hand in the win.
“That was cool,” Raley said. “They were like, ‘Hey, they’re in there and they’re waiting for you?’ I was like, ‘Oh, boy. I don’t know what’s (up) ...” No, that was cool.
“I think I get why guys want to play here. I get why guys are successful. It’s a team effort. I mean, they went down the list of all the achievements. ... I thought it was cool that they had those things.”
