Tamp Bay Rays record season-high 18 hits, beat Giants 10-2

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow knew a few days ago throwing a bullpen that he felt almost right again, and he sure looked like his dominant self after a two-week layoff dealing with back spasms.

Catcher Christian Bethancourt realized it when Glasnow unleashed a 98 mph fastball that actually broke the webbing on his glove.

“He was great,” Bethancourt said. “To be honest he was definitely better than what I expected coming from almost two weeks without pitching with back spasms.”

Bethancourt homered and singled in a run to back Glasnow’s fourth straight winning decision, and the Tampa Bay Rays won their first game since placing All-Star shortstop Wander Franco on the restricted list, beating the San Francisco Giants 10-2 on Monday night.

It was Bethancourt’s first homer since May 20 against Milwaukee.

“I almost forgot what to do in the dugout, run the bases, it’s been a very long time,” Bethancourt joked.

Osleivis Basabe hit a two-run single in the fourth for his first career RBI and Yandy Díaz followed with a run-scoring single. Bethancourt and Manuel Margot added back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth. Harold Ramírez added a late RBI triple.

Glasnow (6-3) had plenty of run support in winning his third start in a row. The right-hander struck out seven and walked three over six innings.

In a matchup of two players making their major league debuts, Jacob Lopez struck out Wade Meckler with the bases loaded to end the seventh. Lopez pitched three innings for his first career save — with his parents, Heather and Hugo, and girlfriend, Emily, having made the drive from Southern California.

The Rays pounded a season-high 18 hits and won for the third time in four games coming off a 9-2 home loss to Cleveland.

Franco didn’t travel with the team to the Bay Area and went on the restricted list a day after social media posts emerged surrounding an alleged relationship with a minor. Authorities in his native Dominican Republic said they were investigating the 22-year-old. The restricted list move sidelines Franco for at least six games while MLB investigates.

Manager Kevin Cash had no doubt his club would stay focused on playing good baseball. Glasnow was proud of everybody.

“It’s awesome,” Glasnow said. “I think we’ve been playing really well, especially as of recent. We just have such a tight crew here. It’s kind of theme of every year, we kind of have a lot of guys up and down like a new team but everyone just comes in and meshes and we play really well.”

Tristan Beck (3-2) relieved opener Ryan Walker in the third inning and gave up five runs on 10 hits over three innings as the Giants lost for the seventh time in nine games.

Wade Meckler Magic

Highly touted prospect Meckler started in center field for his major league debut and finished 0 for 4 at the plate — the first member of the 2022 draft class to reach the majors and just the fourth from the entire draft class called up to the big leagues.

Meckler played just 69 games in the minor leagues between Class A Eugene, Double-A Richmond and and Triple-A Sacramento (10 games).

“It’s kind of silly video game numbers,” manager Gabe Kapler said.

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