Cleveland Guardians at Tampa Bay Rays

Ryan Vilade knew he’d spend some time on the dirt Friday night, as he made his first Major League start at second base in the Rays’ series opener against the Guardians at Tropicana Field. But it wound up being some dirt on Vilade that set the tone for another huge offensive outburst in the Rays’ 11-3 victory, which made them the first American League team to reach the 60-win mark this season and improved their MLB-best record at home to 36-15. Batting with a runner on second in the second inning, Vilade jumped on a first-pitch changeup from Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo and ripped it toward the first row of seats beyond the left-field wall. The ball cleared the fence, but it wound up bouncing off a young fan’s glove before landing back on the field. The Trop’s lights dimmed and the home run horn blared, but Vilade kept running until he left his feet for a head-first dive into third base. The last time he looked to the outfield, he saw left fielder David Fry leap into the wall and the ball on the turf. He thought it might have been in play. “I was like, 'All right, well, we're just gonna keep going,’” Vilade said, grinning. “Then I slid, and I heard the horn go off. I was like, 'Homer?' Then I got fired up.” Vilade stood up, pumped his fist, high-fived third-base coach Brady Williams and trotted the rest of the way home with a two-run lead in hand. Vilade’s all-out effort, even if it wasn’t *totally* necessary, was emblematic of the all-encompassing impact the bottom of Tampa Bay’s lineup had throughout the night. “A lot to like offensively, obviously,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Look, the middle part to the back half really did maybe as impressive a job as we could ask for.” It started with Vilade, who put the Rays ahead with his eighth homer of the season -- and his fifth on the first pitch of an at-bat. “You've just got to stay aggressive and be ready to hit, because it might be your best one \[that\