Yandy Díaz, Brandon Lowe and Randy Arozarena hit RBI singles in the eighth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Tuesday night.
Josh Lowe opened the eighth with a triple against Miles Mikolas (6-8). Andre Pallante entered and retired pinch-hitter Harold Ramírez on a grounder before Díaz hit a groundball single to center that made it 2-1 - the first of four consecutive base hits. Lowe and Arozarena drove in runs with their hits.
Díaz went 4 for 4 and raised his average from .315 to .322 on his 32nd birthday as the Rays improved to 7-3 in their last 10 games. The first baseman was serenaded by a band during batting practice.
Isaac Paredes hit his team-leading 22nd homer of the season in the seventh inning, when he knotted the game at 1-all.
Tampa Bay center fielder Jose Siri helped preserve the 1-all tie with a leaping catch at the wall on Nolan Gorman’s two-out drive off Jason Adam (3-2) with a runner on first in the top of the eighth.
Pete Fairbanks, the third Rays' pitcher, gave up a solo homer to Willson Contreras in the ninth before nailing down his 15th save and completing the five-hitter.
Rays starter Zach Eflin failed in his bid to become the AL's first, and the major's third, 13-game winner. He allowed one run and four hits over seven innings. The right-hander struck out eight in an outing in which he threw 71 of 99 pitches for strikes.
Miles Mikolas made the start after serving a five-game suspension from MLB for intentionally throwing at the Chicago Cubs' Ian Happ on July 27. He gave up two runs and eight hits in seven-plus innings.
St. Louis has lost 12 of its last 17 games. The Cardinals have also dropped nine of 10 to Tampa Bay.
Nolan Arenado put the Cardinals ahead 1-0 on 24th homer leading off the second. He also flew out twice against Eflin on balls to the warning track.
Aremado tied Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies for the second-most interleague RBIs this season with 31. Only Houston’s Alex Bregman has driven in more interleague runs with 32.
Rays LHP Jalen Beeks (2-3) will start a bullpen game Wednesday night against Cardinals RHP Dakota Hudson (2-0).
