{"id":4750,"date":"2026-06-20T05:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4750"},"modified":"2026-06-20T05:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T05:04:24","slug":"rays-happy-to-be-home-show-it-with-win-vs-familiar-looking-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4750","title":{"rendered":"Rays happy to be home, show it with win vs. familiar-looking Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Friday afternoon was filled with hugs and handshakes as a group of\u00a0Nationals\u00a0players and staff who used to be with the Rays returned to Tropicana Field, several for the first time with the visiting team.<\/p>\n

Read more Daily Horoscope for June 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

But the Rays were much more excited about the high-fives afterward, as they celebrated a win for the first time in five days, beating Washington 5-2 in their return home after a rough road trip.<\/p>\n

As bad as the Rays had been playing the last 3\u00bd weeks, losing 15 of their previous 22 games, they still have comfort in being under the tilted roof, where they improved their majors-best home record to 25-9.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Aranda\u00a0had the big hit, a three-run homer in the third inning,\u00a0Taylor Walls\u00a0knocked in a run in the fourth, and\u00a0Jonny DeLuca\u00a0homered in the eighth.<\/p>\n

Griffin Jax\u00a0gave the Rays a solid five-inning start, allowing two solo homers, and four relievers \u2014 an improved\u00a0Steven Matz,\u00a0Kevin Kelly,\u00a0Garrett Cleavinger\u00a0and\u00a0Bryan Baker\u00a0\u2014 took it from there.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Nationals\u00a0grabbed an early 2-0 lead.<\/p>\n

CJ Abrams led off the second with a 412-foot shot to centerfield off Jax, and\u00a0Luis Garcia\u00a0knocked a ball just over the leftfield fence with two outs in the third.<\/p>\n

The Rays didn\u2019t do much in the first two innings against lefty PJ Poulin, who stepped in as the opener when scheduled starter\u00a0Cade Cavalli\u00a0was stricken with food poisoning.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

They did much better against veteran right-hander\u00a0Miles Mikolas, who was bumped up from a scheduled Saturday start to working bulk innings Friday.<\/p>\n

Hunter Feduccia\u00a0drew a one-out walk in the third, and\u00a0Yandy Diaz\u00a0followed with a single. Aranda slapped an outside changeup on a line down the leftfield line, and the ball struck the screen on the fair side of foul pole for a three-run homer.<\/p>\n

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That continued his recent hot streak against right-handed pitchers, going into play Friday hitting .356 (16-for-45) with three homers and six RBIs over his last 17 games.<\/p>\n

The Rays made it 4-2 in the fourth when\u00a0Richie Palacios\u00a0doubled with one out and Walls followed with an RBI single.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Jonny DeLuca, reinstated from an injured list stint that coincided with the Rays\u2019 skid, added to the lead with a solo homer in the eighth.<\/p>\n

Nationals\u00a0players\u00a0Curtis Mead,\u00a0Zack Littell\u00a0and\u00a0Richard Lovelady; manager\u00a0Blake Butera; coaches\u00a0Michael Johns,\u00a0Bobby Wilson\u00a0and Shawn O\u2019Malley; and general manager\u00a0Ani Kilambi\u00a0all spent time in the Rays\u2019 organization and had different feelings about coming back in a different uniform.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very weird,\u201d Butera said before the game.<\/p>\n

Mead, who spent 5\u00bd years in the Rays organization, including parts of three in the majors before being traded in July to the White Sox (who in late March designated him for assignment, then traded him to Washington), said there were a lot of different feelings in coming back to play at the Trop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited at a new opportunity (in Chicago),\u201d Mead said. \u201cBut I enjoyed my time with the Rays, enjoyed a lot of people \u2014 coaches, staff, and everyone \u2014 so there\u2019s a range of emotions. But I\u2019m really happy where I\u2019ve ended up now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Littell, who isn\u2019t pitching in the series, said he was enjoying the opportunity to visit with former teammates and being back in the\u00a0Tampa Bay\u00a0area, having brought his family down. The Rays honored Littell, who pitched for them from\u00a0May 2023\u00a0to\u00a0July 2025, with a tribute video.<\/p>\n

Read more Stream these 14 great soccer movies from around the world<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan Aranda hit a three-run home run, Griffin Jax allowed two runs in five innings and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nRays happy to be home, show it with win vs. familiar-looking Nationals - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4750\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rays happy to be home, show it with win vs. familiar-looking Nationals - 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