Corey Dickerson’s Two HRs Lead Rays Past Diamondbacks 6-3

Corey Dickerson scored two solo home runs and Desmond Jennings added another to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 6-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon.

Corey Dickerson’s Two HRs Lead Rays Past Diamondbacks 6-3

After losing the first four games of their road trip, the Rays salvaged a .500 mark in the 10-game stretch. Starting right-hander Jake Odorizzi (3-3) earned the win despite lasting only five innings, during which he allowed three earned runs on five hits and eight strikeouts.

“It speaks volumes to the guys in that clubhouse in there,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It wasn’t a very fun series in Kansas City, we found every way to lose. And then the next six ballgames, we found a lot of ways to win.”

The Diamondbacks lost their third consecutive series, this time only winning one of three, a 5-0 victory against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. They also lost to the Rays 6-4 on Monday.

Archie Bradley (2-2) lost his second straight start in his worst game since being recalled from minor-league team Triple-A Reno on May 29. The right-hander allowed four earned runs on five hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings.

“It was a battle,” Bradley said. “It wasn’t terrible, but obviously wasn’t my best. I was fighting myself early on, and I knew it was going to be a battle all day.”

After going just 3-for-26 in Tampa Bay’s first nine road games, Dickerson went 3-for-4 on Wednesday, including solo homers in the in the first and seventh innings. It was the outfielder’s fourth career multi-homer game and his first of the season.

“It’s good to feel like yourself again, to feel like your swing’s back or you’re driving the ball to all fields,” Dickerson said. “It definitely feels good, it makes you relax a little more and realize that it’s still there, just you’ve got to be yourself.”

Arizona left the bases loaded in the second, when Jake Lamb struck out to end the inning, and they could only turn consecutive one-out singles in the third into one run. The Diamondbacks again had the bases loaded with zero outs in the ninth, but Paul Goldschmidt struck out before a game-ending double play.

“We did a decent job of getting guys on and we had a chance there at the end, and I didn’t come through,” Goldschmidt said.

Rays utility player Steve Pearce has been dealing with right elbow tendinitis, which kept him out of the starting lineup for the third straight day on Wednesday. However, he managed to come off the bench, and scored a go-ahead RBI single off Arizona reliever Jake Barrett in the sixth to push the score to 4-3.

“You can kind of just stick him in wherever he’s needed,” Cash said. “What a tremendous approach he has right now, not trying to do too much.”

D-back manager Chip Hale won a challenge with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Rays catcher Curt Casali tried to pick off Nick Ahmed at first base after the Arizona shortstop was too far off the base after a pitch. First-base umpire Andy Fletcher called him out, but after a short instant-replay review of 47 seconds, the call was overturned, Ahmed was ruled safe and the D-backs retained their challenge.

The Rays (27-31, 5th in AL East) will next begin a nine-game homestand with the first of a three-game series against the Houston Astros on Friday night. Tampa Bay will start right-hander Matt Andriese at Tropicana Field.

The D-backs (26-36, 4th in NL West), meanwhile, will open a three-game series against the Miami Marlins on Friday at Chase Field. Left-hander Patrick Corbin will start for Arizona.

PHOTO: PHOENIX, AZ – JUNE 08: Corey Dickerson #10 of the Tampa Bay Rays hits a solo home run in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on June 8, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena