ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Isaac Paredes homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs, Tyler Glasnow got his first win in two years, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Texas Rangers 8-3 on Friday night in a matchup of teams with the best records in the majors.
Paredes had an RBI double with two outs in the first inning and made it 4-1 with a three-run homer in the third off Andrew Heaney (4-4). His second home run, a two-run shot off Spencer Howard, came in a four-run sixth that put Tampa Bay ahead 8-1.
“The last couple days I’ve been feeling pretty good at the plate,” Paredes said through a translator. “I think I’ve been able to showcase my abilities because of it.”
Paredes has a team-best 44 RBIs, and is hitting .476 (10 for 21) in eight games against the Rangers.
Glasnow (1-0) gave up one run, one hit and struck out six over six innings in his third start this year. It was the 6-foot-8 right-hander’s first win since June 8, 2021. He missed most of last season after Tommy John surgery and started 2023 on the injured list with a left oblique strain.
“Sweet, nice,” Glasnow said.
Kevin Kelly and Luis Patiño completed a three-hitter as Tampa Bay won its seventh straight game. Patiño gave up two homers in two innings.
The Rays are 30-6 at home, It’s the best start since the 1998 World Series champion New York Yankees also started 30-6.
The announced crowd was 17,447. Tampa Bay started the day averaging 16,961 at home.
Leody Taveras had his first career multihomer game and Josh Jung also went deep for the high-scoring Rangers, who lost 1-0 to St. Louis on Wednesday. Texas leads the majors with 389 runs, while Tampa Bay has 380.
“They were three homers,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “You’ll take that, but the bats were a little quite tonight.”
Heaney allowed four runs and four hits in five innings. The lefty entered with a 1.82 ERA in four previous road starts. Howard, making his season debut after being sidelined by a right lat strain, allowed four runs in one-third of an inning.
“They had a couple big innings,” Bochy said. “They’re a good team. It got away from us there in the sixth inning. Hey, time to bounce back.”
Harold Ramírez and Randy Arozarena pulled off a double steal before Paredes’ third-inning homer. Arozarena swiped second in the sixth in front of Paredes’ drive as the Rays extended their successful stolen base streak to 34.
Arozarena walked with two outs before Paredes’ run-scoring hits in the first and third. Bochy said the Rangers were not pitchibg around the Rays’ clean-up hitter.
MEDICAL DELAY
The game was delayed eight minutes before the bottom of the first when a stretcher was brought onto the field for a fan with a medical condition in the lower seats along the first-base line. The fan was taken to an area hospital. Another fan, Janie Morales, was shown on the video board in the eighth inning and honored for performing CPR.
FAMILY AFFAIR
The series marks the first time Texas’ Nathaniel Lowe and his brother, Tampa Bay’s Josh Lowe, are facing each other in the majors. Their mother, Wendy Lowe, wore a half Rangers, half Rays jersey.
Nathaniel Lowe went 0 for 3 with a walk, while Josh Lowe didn’t play.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: Closer Pete Fairbanks (left hip inflammation) threw to hitters.
UP NEXT
Rangers RHP Nathan Eovaldi (8-2) looks to extend his personal winning streak to eight games when he goes against Rays rookie Taj Bradley (4-2) on Saturday.
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