Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Tampa Bay Rays at Atlanta Braves
TB
Tampa Bay Rays
87-59 · W2
ATL
Atlanta Braves
83-63 · L3
Tampa Bay Rays beat Atlanta Braves 7-2 at Truist Park. Griffin Jax earned the win; Reynaldo López took the loss.
Tampa Bay beat Atlanta 7-2 at Truist Park, building a six-run cushion by the fourth inning and never trailing. Griffin Jax earned the win with five innings of one-run ball, allowing just two strikeouts across 66 pitches while lowering his ERA to 3.71. Reynaldo López took the loss for Atlanta, surrendering six earned runs over 4.2 innings and 80 pitches despite five strikeouts. His ERA climbed to 4.13. The Rays broke open a scoreless game in the second. Victor Mesa Jr. launched his 11th home run to right center, then Jorge Mateo followed with a two-run single to center, scoring Chandler Simpson and Richie Palacios. Tampa Bay tacked on three more in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Cedric Mullins and Richie Palacios, plus a sacrifice fly from Yandy Díaz. Jax recorded two strikeouts, well short of any useful projection threshold. López fanned five. The model leaned YRFI and first-inning scoring occurred.
Victor Mesa Jr. went 2-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored, igniting the second-inning rally that gave Tampa Bay a lead it never surrendered.
Drake Baldwin homered for Atlanta in the fourth and later scored on a Matt Olson sacrifice fly, but the two runs were all the Braves could muster against Jax and the Tampa bullpen.
The model leaned YRFI and first-inning scoring came through as expected, though the bulk of Tampa Bay's damage arrived in the second and fourth frames.
Linescore
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TB | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| ATL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Scoring Summary
Victor Mesa Jr. homers (11) on a fly ball to right center field.
Jorge Mateo singles on a line drive to center fielder Michael Harris II. Chandler Simpson scores. Richie Palacios scores.
Cedric Mullins singles on a line drive to left fielder Mike Yastrzemski. Victor Mesa Jr. scores. Chandler Simpson to 3rd.
Richie Palacios singles on a line drive to left fielder Mike Yastrzemski. Chandler Simpson scores. Cedric Mullins to 2nd.
Yandy Díaz out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Michael Harris II. Cedric Mullins scores. Richie Palacios to 3rd.
Drake Baldwin homers (23) on a fly ball to center field.
Matt Olson out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Cedric Mullins. Drake Baldwin scores.
Liam Hicks singles on a sharp line drive to right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. Jonathan Aranda scores. Junior Caminero to 3rd.
Key Performers
Victor Mesa Jr.
TB
2-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R
Drake Baldwin
ATL
1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R
Jorge Mateo
TB
1-3, 2 RBI
Richie Palacios
TB
1-3, 1 RBI, 1 R
Batting
| TB | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richie Palacios 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| Jorge Mateo SS | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Chandler Simpson LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - |
| Liam Hicks C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Jonathan Aranda 1B | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | - |
| Yandy Díaz DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Victor Mesa Jr. RF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| Junior Caminero 3B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Cedric Mullins CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Totals | 33 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 6 |
| ATL | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | K | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Harris II CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - |
| Mauricio Dubón SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Drake Baldwin DH | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| Matt Olson 1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - |
| Sean Murphy C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Ronald Acuña Jr. RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Ozzie Albies 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Austin Riley 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - |
| Mike Yastrzemski LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Totals | 28 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Pitching
| TB | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | P-S | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jax (W, 7-10) | 5.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 66-45 | 3.71 |
| Johnson, T | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 19-10 | 5.40 |
| Booser | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5-3 | 2.31 |
| Sulser | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8-5 | 4.74 |
| Matz | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 30-21 | 5.72 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| ATL | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | P-S | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| López, R (L, 4-4) | 4.2 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 80-47 | 4.13 |
| Kerr | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9-7 | 1.59 |
| Mederos | 1.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19-13 | 3.03 |
| Falter | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17-16 | 11.57 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 6 |