ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays were expecting that Drew Rasmussen, the reigning American League pitcher of the month, was due to deliver another strong start Tuesday against the Red Sox.
But those plans changed Tuesday morning when Rasmussen’s wife, Stevie, went into labor early and around 4:30 a.m. delivered their first child, a healthy baby boy.
Like good teammates, the other Rays stepped up in an 8-4 victory.
Six relievers, including recent callups Garrett Cleavinger and Calvin Faucher, teamed to limit the Red Sox.
Randy Arozarena homered and doubled twice to lead a potent offense that came out swinging against Sox veteran lefty Rich Hill. Christian Bethancourt and Yu Chang also homered, as the Rays rapped 13 hits.
One blemish on the night: an announced Tropicana Field attendance of just 8,069.
The Rays improved to 76-58, moving to a season-high 18 games over .500 and winning for the seventh time in their last eight games, 18th in 23 and American League-best 22nd since the start of August. They moved within 4 1/2 games of the AL East-leading Yankees (who were rained out) and remained at least atop the three-team AL wild-card field, pending the Mariners’ late game.
The Rays went on the offensive early.
Yandy Diaz, continuing his two-week torrid streak, led off with a double, and Manuel Margot followed with a single against Hill, who had shut them down and shut them out for seven innings on Aug. 27.
Arozarena then stepped up and took another step closer to his goal of a second straight 20-homer, 20-steal season, delivering a three-run blast. That gave him 19 for the season, to go along with 27 steals.
The Sox cut the lead to one when JT Chargois allowed a two-out single to former Ray and Hernando High product Christian Arroyo, then the first big league homer by promising prospect Tristan Casas.
The Rays came right back and added on. Margot, continuing to impress since his return, dropped a bunt for a leadoff single. Arozarena followed with a double. Then Harold Ramirez — celebrating his 28th birthday — laced a single to left that scored both runners and made it 5-2. Ramirez, though, was thrown out trying to get to second.
Bethancourt, an early July acquisition from Oakland, hit his fifth homer in his last 11 games, with one out in the sixth off Sox reliever Eduard Bazardo. Five pitches later, Chang also went deep.
Francisco Mejia doubled in Arozarena in the seventh.
