Rays pound out 15 hits in win over Guardians

Field Level Media|published: Fri 24th July, 22:07 2026

Jul 24, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays catcher Nick Fortes (40) hits a RBI single in the fourth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

Ryan Vilade hit a two-run homer and Richie Palacios added a three-run blast as the Tampa Bay Rays opened a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians with an 11-3 win on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Shane McClanahan (9-6) allowed one run on two hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out three while throwing 71 pitches. Chris Roycroft closed the game with three scoreless innings for his first career save.

Nick Fortes went 4-for-4 with two RBIs, and Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson each had two hits with an RBI for Tampa Bay, which led 5-1 after four innings and won for the fourth time in its last five games. Cedric Mullins added two hits.

Austin Hedges hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning for Cleveland, which was outhit 15-7 and lost its third straight.

Vilade gave the Rays the lead in the second inning with a two-run homer against Joey Cantillo (8-6). The 365-foot shot was Vilade's eighth homer of the season.

McClanahan did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, when Chase DeLauter extended his season-high on-base streak to 16 games with a leadoff double and scored on Brayan Rocchio's one-out double.

Tampa Bay extended its lead with three runs on four hits in the fourth inning. Mullins began the rally with a leadoff triple and scored on DeLuca's single.

After Simpson reached on a bunt single, Vilade walked and DeLuca scored on Ben Williamson's fielder's choice grounder to first baseman Rhys Hoskins.

Fortes followed with an RBI single before Cantillo struck out the next two batters. Matt Festa entered and stranded the bases loaded when Junior Caminero popped out.

Cantillo allowed five runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

With two runners on and two outs in the sixth inning, the Rays tacked on a run when Fortes raced home from second base on Caminero's single to left field.

The Rays scored again with two outs in the seventh on back-to-back doubles by Williamson and Fortes. Tampa Bay added four runs in the eighth on Simpson's sacrifice fly and Palacios' three-run homer to right-center.

--Field Level Media

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