Richie Palacios drove in four runs and Victor Mesa Jr. had four hits and two RBIs as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays walloped the Philadelphia Phillies 12-1 on Saturday.
Griffin Jax and six relievers took care of matters on the mound for Tampa Bay (98-63), which has already clinched the top spot in the American League playoffs. Other standouts for the Rays included Junior Caminero, who slugged his 42nd homer, and Yandy Diaz, who collected three hits and scored three runs.
In the midst of a late-season freefall, Philadelphia gave the starting nod to Aaron Nola (7-12), who threw 88 pitches on Wednesday before promptly allowing three first-inning runs. Things only got worse from there for the Phillies, who have been outscored 23-3 during a four-game slide.
Philadelphia (87-74), which entered the night with a magic number of two to clinch a wild-card spot, once again failed to cut into that number. The Phillies’ lone competition for the final National League playoff spot is the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were taking on the San Diego Padres late Saturday night.
Diaz doubled to open the game and scored on Caminero’s two-out home run. The Rays tacked on another run when Mesa and Palacios delivered back-to-back doubles to make it 3-0.
After retiring all six hitters he faced in the first two innings, Jax worked around some issues in the third. He gave up a leadoff single before inducing a double play by J.T. Realmuto. Jax then allowed another hit before Trea Turner lined one off the pitcher’s back, although it ricocheted right to shortstop Taylor Walls, who threw to first for the final out.
Jax walked off gingerly and left the game, but the Tampa Bay hitters continued to pile on.
The Rays scored four times in the fifth, capped by Cedric Mullins’ two-run single. The sixth inning featured another scoring display by the Tampa Bay offense, as Mesa delivered an RBI double and Palacios followed with a two-run single to push the lead to 10-0.
Meanwhile, Steven Matz (6-6) logged a perfect fourth inning for the Rays before Brody Hopkins had no issues in the fifth and Cam Booser worked a scoreless sixth. Manuel Rodriguez allowed an unearned run in the seventh before Ty Johnson and Cole Sulser each pitched a scoreless inning to close it out.
Nola allowed three runs on four hits in one inning of work.
