Rays racking up wins, and quickly, heading into series vs. Athletics

The Tampa Bay Rays look to continue a perfect road trip when they visit the Athletics on Monday night in West Sacramento, Calif.

Tampa Bay is 6-0 so far entering the opener of the trip-ending three-game series against the Athletics. The Rays swept three games apiece from the Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners in the first two legs of the excursion.

The Rays scored only nine runs in the series against the Mariners but allowed just four to record their 12th series sweep of the season and move a season-high 25 games above .500.

Tampa Bay owns the top record in the American League and holds a 5 1/2-game advantage over the New York Yankees in the East.

Yandy Diaz and Chandler Simpson each had four hits in Sunday's 4-1 victory over the Mariners. It was the 14th time Diaz has had four or more hits in a game in his career and the third for Simpson.

Three of the speedy Simpson's hits were of the infield variety as he raised his average to .304.

"We've seen it all season long, what (pressure) he puts on the defense," Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Simpson. "But he's swinging the bat really, really well."

Simpson asserted he's not watching his average.

"Don't really pay attention to things like that," Simpson said. "There's ebbs and flows to hitting, but I mean, I really just try to take it one game, one pitch at a time, and then just go from there. Trust my work."

Diaz was just 2-for-23 over his previous five appearances before cranking out four or more hits for the fifth time this season.

"I wasn't trying to do too much so, thankfully, those four hits came my way," Diaz said through an interpreter.

The Athletics have been in a deep funk, but they won the final two contests of a three-game set against the lava-hot Boston Red Sox over the weekend.

The A's were outscored 68-25 during a nine-game losing streak before registering wins of 7-3 on Saturday and 4-3 on Sunday.

It marked the first time the A's won consecutive games since June 25-26.

"It's a great series win for us. We needed it," Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson said. "We've got a tough opponent ahead of us and need to keep the ball rolling."

The Athletics had lost 29 of 34 games before the back-to-back wins in Boston.

"Outcome of the weekend was really good," Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. "To do that in Boston against one of the hottest teams in baseball? I'm pretty happy with the performance."

Wilson set a record for shortstops on Sunday when he played his 111th consecutive game without making an error. Mike Bordick (2002) of the Baltimore Orioles held the mark.

"It's a special day for me, but at the end of the day, we got our first series win in a long time against a great opponent," Wilson said. "We've got to keep that ball rolling."

The Athletics send left-hander Jacob Lopez (5-4, 5.64 ERA) against Rays right-hander Freddy Peralta (5-9, 5.37).

Lopez, who pitched for the Rays in 2023-24, is facing his ex-mates for the third time. He is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA against them.

Lopez struck out a season-best nine in five innings in a no-decision against the host Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. He gave up two runs and four hits.

Peralta was acquired from the New York Mets at the trade deadline. He was torched in his Tampa Bay debut when he gave up seven runs and nine hits over 3 2/3 innings in a no-decision against the Colorado Rockies last Tuesday in Denver.

Peralta, 30, went 0-4 in his final seven starts with the Mets.

Peralta is 1-2 with a 3.06 ERA in four appearances (three starts) against the A's. Jeff McNeil is 1-for-10 against Peralta.

--Field Level Media