Rays 7, Orioles 6: DeLuca Wins It, Tampa Bay Avoids a Sweep

August 17, 2026 - St. Petersburg - Baltimore had taken the first three of this series, including Sunday's 10-2 pile-on, and Shane McClanahan was supposed to be the reset. He lasted 3 1/3. Coby Mayo hit one 468 feet in the second. The Tampa Bay Rays still found a seventh inning.

Yennier Cano faced four hitters and got none of them. Jonathan Aranda singled in a run. Jonny DeLuca pinch-hit and singled in two more. 7-6. Cam Booser (1-0) got the win. Bryan Baker threw the last 1 2/3 for his majors-leading 35th save. Tampa Bay avoided the sweep. The Baltimore Orioles left 61-64, the same record as the Tigers, with a 3-1 series that will feel like a missed four-game.

Mayo's 468-footer, then the Trop answers

Mayo led off the second with that 468-foot shot to left-center, his 16th. McClanahan, reinstated from the injured list for this start, had a 1-0 deficit before the order turned over. Yandy Díaz tied it in the third, 396 feet to right-center, his 18th.

The fourth was the inning that refused to pick a winner. McClanahan left with one out. Christian Encarnacion-Strand singled Jackson Holliday and Mayo home. 3-1 Baltimore. Ryan Vilade answered with a homer to center, 428 feet. 3-2. Jorge Mateo hit a two-run shot to left-center, 406 feet, Richie Palacios scoring. 4-3 Rays. Brandon Young gave up all three Tampa Bay homers in four innings.

Alonso, then Encarnacion-Strand, then Cano's mess

Tyler Wells inherited a one-run deficit and walked into a three-run inning. Pete Alonso homered to right, 357 feet, his 28th. 4-4. Encarnacion-Strand followed with a two-run shot to left, 359 feet, Gunnar Henderson scoring. 6-4 Orioles. Encarnacion-Strand finished 3-for-5 with four RBI, a single that flipped the fourth and a homer that flipped the fifth. That is a losing box score that still looks like the best night in the visiting clubhouse.

Tampa Bay's sixth was empty. The seventh was Cano. Taylor Walls scored on Aranda's single. Díaz had been hit by a pitch. Junior Caminero infield-singled. DeLuca, hitting for Liam Hicks, went to left and scored Aranda and Díaz. 7-6. Cano's line: zero innings, three hits, three earned, the loss (2-3). Josh Walker inherited the rest of the inning and got out of it.

Tyler Wells had thrown the fifth: one inning, three hits, two homers, three runs. Alonso and Encarnacion-Strand both went deep in that inning.

Line: Rays 7 runs on 12 hits; Orioles 6 runs on 14 hits, 1 error; six combined homers; Baker 1 2/3 IP, 35th save.

Booser threw 1 1/3, two hits, three strikeouts, the win in his first decision as a Ray. Baker has been the closer who does not blink. Two strikeouts in 1 2/3. Baltimore put 14 hits on the board and still lost because the seventh inning asked Cano to throw strikes and he did not.

A 3-1 series that used to be a sweep

Tampa Bay is 75-49. Best record in the American League, or close enough that a Monday night sweep-avoidance still matters in September. Baltimore sold at the deadline and then took three of four in the building that has spent the summer looking like a first-place park. Sunday was 10-2. Monday was 7-6 the other way. That is a series, not a coronation for either club.

McClanahan's return was 3 1/3 innings, four hits, three earned, one homer. He will get another turn. Young took the no-decision and the three homers. Encarnacion-Strand and Alonso did what Baltimore has been doing in this park all weekend: extra-base damage. Díaz, Vilade, and Mateo did it back. DeLuca's pinch-hit single was the one that ended the argument.

I would not overread one 7-6 after a 10-2. I would say this: a first-place team that lets a seller take three of four still needed the seventh inning, and it got it from a pinch-hitter. That is enough for Monday. Baker will take the 35th save and the baseball.

AthX Engine angle

Tampa Bay finished with 11 AthX Engine team fantasy points, sixth on Monday's slate. Díaz scored 9 hitting fantasy points. Encarnacion-Strand scored 10 in the loss, tied for fifth among hitters. AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) graded a one-run game with six homers as a hitter night that did not need 11 runs to show up on the board.

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*Sources: ESPN box score, MLB.com gameday, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 17, 2026. AthX Engine fantasy scoring is for information only and is not financial advice.*