Three doubles, and the game turned
Jonathan Aranda doubled, homered, drove in two runs and scored twice overnight in Arlington. Tampa Bay beat Texas 7-6 in the second game of a four-game series. The Rays had lost two in a row before that.
The swing came in the fifth. Yandy Diaz, Aranda and Junior Caminero opened the inning with three straight opposite-field doubles for a 4-1 lead. Kumar Rocker got one out after that, then watched Victor Mesa Jr. drop a blooper into shallow center. Evan Carter misplayed it, Caminero scored and Mesa took second. Mesa came home during a rundown moments later to make it 6-1.
Rocker (5-11) finished with six runs, five earned, on nine hits across five innings. Three strikeouts, no walks.
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Martinez keeps rolling
Nick Martinez went 6 1/3 innings for the win, his 14th against four defeats. Three runs, five hits, four strikeouts, two walks.
That record is worth pausing on. Fourteen wins this deep into September puts Martinez among the steadiest arms Tampa Bay has sent out all year, and the Rays sit at 84-57 with the postseason firmly in view.
Richie Palacios homered with two outs in the fourth to put Tampa Bay ahead for good. Yandy Diaz collected three hits and scored a run. Caminero added two hits and two RBIs, including a ninth-inning single that mattered more than it looked at the time.
Texas made it uncomfortable
Ezequiel Duran opened the second with a home run. Elias Diaz answered the six-run cushion with a grand slam in the seventh that cut it to 6-5 and turned a quiet night loud.
The ninth nearly finished the job. Bryan Baker walked the first two batters and left with a trainer. Tyler Wells came in, gave up a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners, then a sacrifice fly from Elias Diaz that made it 7-6. He got the final out with the tying run ninety feet away.
Texas drop to 70-72 after winning four of their previous five. Tampa Bay lead the series and stay in Arlington for two more.
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