Tampa Bay Rays at Athletics

Freddy Peralta believes. Why wouldn’t he? Since being activated by the Rays on Aug. 3 after his acquistion from the Mets the previous day, Peralta has been nothing but impressed by a club that has done nothing but win. So even when the Athletics scored three runs after Peralta exited his start on Monday to make it a four-run game in the seventh inning, Peralta -- watching from the visitors’ clubhouse at Sutter Health Park -- had plenty of faith. As the Rays ripped hit after hit to start the eighth inning, he wasn’t surprised. “I was believing it, because I’ve been watching how special this team is,” Peralta said. “When they started hitting, I was like, ‘OK. They’re coming. They’re coming.’” The Rays practically never stopped their late charge in Monday’s 10-6 win over the A’s, flipping the script with eight runs in the eighth to win their seventh straight game -- all on the road. The first eight Tampa Bay baserunners all reached base as the club sent 12 men to the plate in the fateful inning. Junior Caminero cut the lead to one run with a three-run homer, Chandler Simpson tied the game with a single to right and Taylor Walls delivered the go-ahead blow, a two-run base hit to right-center. After consecutive sweeps of the Rockies and Mariners away from home, the Rays proved that their second-half momentum made it onto the plane to West Sacramento. “We’re united,” Caminero said through team interpreter Kevin Vera. “We take that onto the road wherever we go, and it’s really our key to this season -- how we’ve been able to do that the entire year.”