Jason Bartlett and Reid Brignac both drove in three runs and the streaking Tampa Bay Rays cruised to an 11-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.
Carl Crawford had four hits and finished a home run shy of the cycle as the Rays belted out 15 hits, with most of the damage coming off starter Luke Hochevar.
Hochevar (2-1) was rocked for nine runs on 11 hits in just 2 2/3 innings before being removed.
Tampa Bay scored five in the second and four more in the third to build a 9-0 advantage. Ben Zobrist, Carlos Pena, Pat Burrell and Jason Jaso each drove in a run in winning for the fifth straight game.
Matt Garza (4-1) got all the run support he needed, going six innings and allowing one run -- a fourth-inning homer to Alberto Callaspo -- on five hits with nine strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.06.
Kansas City | Tampa Bay | |
Luke Hochevar | Player | Matt Garza |
Loss | W/L | Win |
2.2 | IP | 6.0 |
1 | Strikeouts | 9 |
11 | Hits | 5 |
30.38 | ERA | 1.50 |
Kansas City | Tampa Bay | |
Alberto Jose Callaspo | Player | Carl Crawford |
2 | Hits | 4 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 8 |
.500 | Avg | .800 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Kansas City | 6 | 1 | 11 | .188 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
Tampa Bay | 15 | 0 | 23 | .375 | 24 | 7 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 0 |