ST. PETERSBURG. – Dominican Samuel Basallo continued to demonstrate his offensive power by hitting his seventh home run of the season, although he couldn’t prevent the Baltimore Orioles’ 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, who completed the sweep in the series played at Tropicana Field.
Basallo punished a pitch in the sixth inning with a 105.4 mph hit that disappeared over the right field. The catcher finished the game batting 4-2, with a run scored and one driven in.
With his performance, the young prospect raised his batting average to .277, in addition to adding 18 RBIs and an OPS of .832, establishing himself as one of the main extra-base hit producers among young players in the Major Leagues.
The Dominican also maintains a solid ISO of .219, a sabermetric statistic that measures a batter’s pure power to hit extra-base hits and places him within the category of batters with above-average power production.
For Tampa Bay, Junior Caminero contributed two hits and was one of the key pieces in the offensive reaction of the Rays, who managed to come back with a four-run rally in the eighth inning.
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The Orioles seemed headed for victory thanks to the dominance of starting pitcher Shane Baz, who worked six innings allowing just one run and striking out six batters.
However, Tampa Bay’s offense woke up in the eighth inning against reliever Anthony Núñez. Mexican Jonathan Aranda tied the game with a run-scoring double and Richie Palacios subsequently hit the single that gave the home team the definitive lead. A perfectly executed double steal later allowed the fifth run scored by debutant Oliver Dunn.
Reliever Jesse Scholtens was credited with the win after pitching four innings of two-run ball, while Ian Seymour earned his second save of the campaign.
With the triumph, Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to four consecutive victories and closed a successful home stand with a 5-1 record. Baltimore, on the other hand, is going through a difficult moment after losing six of its last eight matches.
