(Saint Petersburg) After going undefeated against four teams with losing records, the Tampa Bay Rays now head to Toronto with the goal of breaking a record that dates back 19It is century by the number of consecutive victories at the start of the campaign.
“We are a team that plays in a small market and people from this championship have not always had very good things to say about us, but that does not prevent us from being soldiers”, said Manuel Margot through an interpreter after the defeat of the Rays by the Boston Red Sox 9-3 on Thursday to improve to 13-0 this season.
The Rays came from behind producing seven runs in the fifth inning to tie the mark that was co-owned by the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers.
The absolute mark to start a campaign is 20-0 and belongs to St. Louis Maroons of 1884, who played in the defunct Union Association.
The Rays won all but two of their games by at least four points and outscored their opponents 101-30 during that sublime streak. They also rank first in the major leagues in points scored and allowed.
“When you do that kind of thing, you play really, really well,” said Rays coach Kevin Cash. There is not the slightest aspect of our game that concerns us at the moment. »
In front of a crowd of 21,175, the largest at Tropicana Field since opening, the Rays set a franchise record for the longest winning streak – at any point in the season – which was 12 in June 2004. That streak includes the playoffs against Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics.
The Red Sox, who were limited to four hits, have now lost 13 consecutive games at the “Trop”.
