After rough stretch, Rays look like the Rays again, cruise by Marlins

MIAMI - The Rays got back to playing like themselves on Friday.

They pitched very well, with a dominant start by Drew Rasmussen. They scored early and often, sparked by Richie Palacios' two-run triple in the first and Junior Caminero reaching base five times and crossing the plate three. They played clean on defense and on the bases.

And they shook hands and high-fived afterward, beating the Marlins 6-0.

"Just a lot of positives, that's for sure," Rasmussen said. "Coming off the series at home, I think (Friday) was such a big game for us to come out and play well, and I think we did that in all three facets of the game."

Or, as Palacios said, "A little bit of Rays baseball."

The Rays improved to 37-23 with the win, just their third over the last 11 games, and reopened their American League East lead over the Aaron Judge-less Yankees to 1 ½ games.

The only negative was speedy outfielder Chandler Simpson leaving in the third inning due to a sore and swollen left thumb that has him on day-to-day status.

Rasmussen was coming off an uncharacteristically rough last outing - having allowed more than four earned runs for the first time since April 2023 - and quickly established Friday he was back on his game.

He worked seven stellar innings, allowing just a second-inning single and no walks while striking out nine, throwing first-pitch strikes to 17 of 22 batters.

"We needed it," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "It was a lot of fun to watch. He had everything going. We got swing-and-miss on an offense that really puts the ball in play, so that just speaks to how good his stuff was. But the strike-throwing was pretty elite, just attack, attack, attack and then got them to chase later on in the at-bat."

Palacios had a pretty good view playing second base.

"That was a masterpiece," he said. "All his pitches were working, he was dotting all around the zone. It's just amazing to watch him pitch and be behind him when he's throwing like that. It's awesome to see ‘Rass' like that."

Rasmussen made it sound easy: "It was as simple as getting ahead early."

But that was the product of a conversation he had before the game with catcher Nick Fortes.

Frustrated over his last several starts by his inability to get ahead in counts, specifically in throwing strike one, Rasmussen pitched an idea to Fortes about a slight adjustment:

"Let's just sit in the bigger part of the plate. We don't necessarily need to work to the edges right now, because my command is just not where I want it to be. He did a great job back there.

"We just put in place a plan of, hey, we're going to be more aggressive to the big parts of the zones and we're just going to use unpredictability to be to be our strength, and we change speeds a lot."

During their skid, the Rays often found themselves behind early. They also addressed that Friday, scoring three runs in the first and then adding on later.

That set Rasmussen up for success and set a positive vibe for a team that needed it after scoring two or fewer runs in five of the eight losses and being swept by the Tigers.

"Offense was tough the past couple days," Palacios said. "We were able to score (Friday), and that's what we're good at. So, when we're scoring, we're definitely excited, and that's the game we play."

They made it pretty much a team effort from the start.

With one out in the first, Caminero doubled and Jonathan Aranda walked. After Yandy Diaz's fielder's choice grounder, they had runners on the corners with two outs.

Palacios delivered the first big hit, lacing a ball that Marlins rightfielder Owen Caissie couldn't handle, scoring two.

"Just was able to put a good swing on the ball, then I'm running down the line, just praying that it falls," Palacios said. "He made a dive, and I thought he caught it, actually, and I saw it deflect, and I was able to get a triple. For us, whenever we score early is really important."

That it is, as they are 26-7 when doing so and 11-16 when not.

Even better, they kept adding on.

Ryan Vilade singled in Palacios, and then in the seventh Vilade knocked in Caminero. Vilade now has 22 RBIs, fourth most on the team.

"A lot of big at-bats early in the ballgame to give Rass some room to work with," Cash said.

In the fifth, Caminero doubled for the second time and Aranda singled him in, snapping an 0-for-14 skid and logging his 44th RBI, third most in the league. And in the sixth, Cedric Mullins homered, his fifth of the season.

"We were pretty good (Friday). Everybody knows the last couple days were tough a little bit, but that's baseball," Caminero said.

"We've got to continue. We've got to keep going."

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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 9:57 PM.