Tampa Bay Rays’ Jonny DeLuca celebrates after his two-run home run as he rounds the bases during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, June 21, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
St. Petersburg, FL – Jonny DeLuca hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the seventh and Bryan Baker and Kevin Kelly held the Washington Nationals scoreless over the final two frames as the Tampa Bay Rays won 4-3 to win the series in front of 21,054 fans at Tropicana Field.
With the victory the Rays move to 43-31 on the year. Garrett Cleavinger (2-2, 4.66 ERA) picks up the win and Kevin Kelly worked the ninth inning to preserve the victory and picked up his third save on the year. The one run victory snapped a string of five straight one run losses and marked their 19th come from behind victory on the year.
Orlando Ribalta (0-1, 3.38 ERA) takes the loss for the Nationals who fall to 40-38 on the season, The loss snapped their streak of road series victories at five straight (dating back to May 22nd). The one run loss drops the Nationals to 11-11 in such games this season.
Nick Martinez worked the games first six innings allowing three earned runs on four hits while striking out five and walking three. He allowed one homer, made 88 pitches with 57 for strikes. The three earned runs mark his fourth straight start in which he has yielded three or more earned runs. He hadn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his first 11 starts.
“Nick did a really good job, he got clipped there at the end with a solo home run there at the end,he did everything to keep us in the ballgame, within distance to get something going, which we did.” Kevin Cash said. “He’s put together an all-star first half as far as I’m concerned.”
Andrew Alvarez worked the first four innings for the Nationals and allowed one run. He set down the first eight Rays batters before Taylor Walls doubled and scored on Yandy Diaz‘s double.
The Nationals scored single runs off Martinez in the third, fourth, and sixth inning. CJ Abrams homered off Martinez in the sixth to give the Nationals a 3-1 lead. It was Abrams third consecutive game with a homer.
The Rays cut the lead to 3-2 when Ryan Vilade answered Abrams with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the sixth inning. It was Vilade’s fifth homer on the season and was 106.8 miles per hour off the bat and traveled 436 feet.
Garrett Cleavinger worked a scoreless seventh inning. Eight of his last 11 outings have been scoreless.
Yandy Diaz singled with one out in the bottom of the seventh and Jonny DeLuca followed with a 2-run homer off Nationals reliever Orlando Ribalta to put the Rays up 4-3. It was DeLuca’s fourth home run on the year and all have come in the seventh inning or later. It’s DeLuca second homer of the series after being reinstated from the injury list (right hamstring strain).
Diaz finished the game 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, a walk, and a runs scored. His RBI double in the third inning marked his first extra base hit since June 8 when he homered against the Red Sox. He extends his multi-hit game streak to four in a row and extended his home on-base streak to 19 straight games tying Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres for the longest active streak in the majors.
Kevin Cash called on closer Bryan Baker to work the top of the eighth inning with the Nationals 2-3-4 hitters due up. Baker fought his command during the inning but sent the Nationals down in order to preserve the 4-3 lead. It extends his scoreless innings streak to 12 innings.
Kevin Kelly entered the game in the ninth inning with Tampa Bay holding the 4-3 lead. He allowed a leadoff single to Daylen Lile but he was erased attempting to steal with 1-out. Kelly struck out Jose Tena to end the game and give the Rays the series win.
Up Next For Rays:
The Rays continue their season long 10-game homestand welcoming the Kansas City Royals into town for a four game set starting Monday night at 6:40 p.m. Drew Rasmussen (6-3, 2.59 ERA) will take the mound for the Rays. The Royals counter with former Rays hurler Michael Wacha (4-5, 3.64 ERA). The Rays and Royals will face each other seven times over the next 11 days. The Rays have not lost a season series to the Royals since 2017 when the Royals won 4 of the seven matchups. The two teams split their season series (3-3) in each of the last two seasons. Interesting note, last season both teams swept their respective road series.
