Rays put bats to work, beat Braves for 4th straight win
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Aug 12, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Grady Sizemore (24) singles during the third inning against the Atlanta Braves at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Curt Casali capped a six-run seventh inning with a two-run homer and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.
Casali had just one hit in 26 at-bats since consecutive two-homer games against Detroit on July 27-28.
Tampa Bay has won four in a row, including three when trailing 3-0. The Rays also had comeback wins Saturday and Sunday over the New York Mets.
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Pedro Ciriaco homered for the first time in more than two years and tied a career high with four RBIs for the Braves, who have lost 14 of 20.
The Rays scored five times off reliever Matt Marksberry (0-1) in the decisive seventh.
James Loney hit an RBI double and Logan Forsythe had a sacrifice fly, then a run scored on a Marksberry wild pitch. The left-hander then missed touching the base on a throw from first baseman Joey Terdoslavich on Kevin Kiermaier's two-out grounder that allowed Brandon Guyer to score.
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Ryan Kelly entered and gave up Casali's homer that made it 9-6.
Alex Colome (5-4) replaced Jake Odorizzi with two on and no outs in this seventh and gave up a sacrifice fly to Ciriaco and then threw a wild pitch that allowed another run score to put the Braves up 6-3.
Odorizzi, who had allowed just eight earned runs over 51 1-3 innings in eight starts at home this season, gave up six earned runs and nine hits in six-plus innings.
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Brad Boxberger pitched the ninth for his 29th save, striking out Ciriaco with two on and one out.
The teams' traded solo homers during the fifth. Ciriaco hit his first homer since June 20, 2013 before Grady Sizemore went deep to cut the Tampa Bay deficit to 4-2.
Ciriaco drove in two with a single during a three-run second to help Atlanta go ahead 3-0.
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TRAINER'S ROOM
Braves: 1B Freddie Freeman (oblique) and INF prospect Hector Olivera (hamstring) will join the GCL Braves on Thursday. GM John Hart is optimistic Freeman will return when eligible Aug. 19.
Rays: LHP Drew Smyly (labrum) could rejoin the rotation next week.
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UP NEXT
Braves: RHP Julio Teheran (7-6) and Arizona LHP Robbie Ray (3-7) are Friday night's starters.
Rays: RHP Nathan Karns (7-5) will pitch at home in Arlington, Texas for the first time Friday night against the Rangers. "The opportunity is something I definitely dreamt about," Karns said. "I've seen my share of Ranger games there, anywhere from the top row to first row." Karns is running outside "to get used to the Texas heat," where highs are 100 degrees.