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The Tampa Bay Rays will look to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season on Wednesday night when they continue their series against the host Oakland Athletics.

The Rays were the victims of a “reverse boycott” rally that produced Oakland’s biggest crowd of the year Tuesday. That fan support helped lift the A’s to their seventh straight win with a 2-1 decision.

The A’s had 27,759 in attendance on Tuesday, one day after only 4,848 fans showed up for the series opener.

Although Oakland manager Mark Kotsay labeled Tuesday’s experience as “eerie,” he conceded that it helped lift his team to a postseason-type victory over the top club in the American League.

“Tonight was as close to a playoff crowd as I’ve experienced managing a game,” Kotsay said. “The (atmosphere) was everything that stadium can be. For us to play a good game all around in front of that crowd, I couldn’t be happier.

“We felt the energy on the fan side supporting us passionately. You could feel them wanting us to win that game. You could feel the electricity when we scored that run in the eighth and when we took the field in the ninth.”

For the second day in a row, the A’s will entrust a rookie with the challenge of defeating the Rays when right-hander Luis Medina (1-5, 7.53 ERA) takes the mound.

Hogan Harris was the A’s pitching star Tuesday, limiting the Rays to one run in seven innings.

Medina pitched effectively in relief in a 5-2 win at Milwaukee on Friday, allowing two runs in five innings to earn his first big-league win. Four of his five losses have come in five starts.

The 24-year-old has yet to face the Rays.

Tampa Bay had a seven-game winning streak that extended into last week before losing three of its last four contests.

The Rays have just four runs on 12 hits in the two losses in Oakland. Only three of their hits have gone for extra bases, including a three-run home run by Jose Siri that accounted for all but one of the team’s runs in the series.

Hoping for better support Wednesday will be scheduled starter Tyler Glasnow (1-0, 2.87), who has gotten progressively better in three starts since returning from an oblique injury. The right-hander’s best outing was Friday at home against the Rangers in an 8-3 win, during which he allowed just one run on one hit in six innings for his first win of the season.

The 29-year-old California native has made just two starts against the A’s, both in 2021, going 1-1 with a 2.13 ERA. He has never won at the Oakland Coliseum.

So far, the series has gone as Rays manager Kevin Cash had feared.

“Without a doubt, they are playing better,” Cash said of the A’s. “They’re a young team. They’re athletic. They’re talented. We’ve got to come in here and play good baseball.”

–Field Level Media

While the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to have pitching issues unmatched in the era of manager Dave Roberts, there are some positive signs.

The Dodgers will face the Chicago White Sox with left-hander Clayton Kershaw (8-4, 2.95 ERA) on the mound Wednesday, providing not only a starter Roberts can trust, but a day to possibly give an inconsistent bullpen another break after teammate Tony Gonsolin went six scoreless innings Tuesday.

The White Sox will counter with right-hander Mike Clevinger (3-4, 4.19), who knows a little something about the Dodgers from his one season-plus with the San Diego Padres.

Injuries have the Dodgers down to four starters of late and two of them are rookies. In addition, the bullpen entered Tuesday’s series opener against the White Sox with a 4.76 ERA, next to last in the National League and ahead of only the Washington Nationals.

“In totality, I think the reliever situation, we have to get ahead, we have to get strike one,” Roberts said. “And when we do get count leverage, we’re not putting guys away. … I think for me, we have to be better. These are the guys we have, they have performed before and I’m going to keep running them out there and expect them to be better.”

In a 5-1 victory over the White Sox on Tuesday, Dodgers relievers did their part by giving up a lone run over three innings.

Kershaw can continue to help the bullpen with an extended outing Tuesday. He has pitched seven innings in five of his 13 starts, with two of those in his past two appearances.

The veteran did not give up a run over seven innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday and matched a season high with nine strikeouts. The 6-0 Dodgers victory was the team’s only one of last week’s series, after the bullpen blew two other late leads.

In four career starts against the White Sox, Kershaw is 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA, last facing them in 2017 when he went seven scoreless innings.

Clevinger has faced the Dodgers three times in his career, all in 2022 as a member of the Padres. It did not go well as he went 0-2 with a 9.69 ERA in those outings. In two starts against the Dodgers in a six-day span last September, Clevinger gave up a combined nine runs on nine hits and three walks in 8 1/3 inning.

“It’s all about game planning, execution and in at-bat adjustments pitch to pitch,” White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said when asked about Clevinger gaining any benefit from his knowledge of the Dodgers. “Once you have that kind of familiarity with these guys, or with anybody, it’s all about making adjustments on the mound.”

The Chicago offense managed just three hits Tuesday, and the White Sox have scored one run or less in three of their past five games. Former Dodger Yasmani Grandal prevented a shutout for the White Sox with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning in the opener.

The White Sox have lost three consecutive games after dropping the opener of a six-game road trip, which also takes them to Seattle.

–Field Level Media

Managers often talk about the importance of turning over the batting order, getting back to the top of the lineup.

The Seattle Mariners were content to stay at the bottom Tuesday night.

Nos. 7-9 batters Cal Raleigh, Mike Ford and Jose Caballero combined to go 6-for-10 with a triple, three home runs and nine RBIs as the Mariners recorded a 9-3 win over the visiting Miami Marlins.

The Mariners will go for a sweep of the three-game interleague series Wednesday night in Seattle.

“We’re normally a little top-heavy,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said of his lineup’s production. “But (Tuesday) it was all about the guys at the bottom.”

Remarkably, the Mariners’ top four hitters combined to go 0-for-16, but the rest of the lineup more than made up for it.

Raleigh, mired in an 0-for-21 slump that caused him to trim his goatee back to a mustache, broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the second inning.

Ford, called up from Triple-A Tacoma on June 2, hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning and went deep to lead off the eighth.

Ford, a 30-year-old who played for four teams last season — San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta and the Los Angeles Angels — has four homers in 22 major-league at-bats this season.

“I want to stay, so I’m trying to do my best,” Ford said.

Caballero, a rookie who has taken over the starting job at second base from Kolten Wong, hit a three-run triple in the sixth inning to give Seattle an 8-1 lead.

The Marlins, who entered the series having won 12 of their previous 15 games, have been outscored 17-4 the past two nights. They’ve managed just one unearned run on four hits combined against Seattle starters Bryce Miller and George Kirby, who each went six innings.

“I never want to say (we’re) due for a dud,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “I don’t want to ever put it like that because our team is too good. We feel like we should win every game when we come into the ballpark. We just played a little sloppy (the past two days), and those games are going to happen every now and then. … But we’ll be back at it (Wednesday).”

The Marlins’ Luis Arraez went hitless for the second straight night as his MLB-leading average dropped to .382.

“Arraez is not going to get a hit or two every single game,” Schumaker said.

The series finale is expected to feature a pair of right-handers in 20-year-old Marlins rookie Eury Perez (3-1, 2.17 ERA) against Mariners ace Luis Castillo (4-4, 2.70).

This will be the seventh career start for Perez and his first against Seattle.

Over his past three starts, Perez has allowed one run on 11 hits in 15 innings, with seven walks and 14 strikeouts. He didn’t receive a decision in a 2-1 loss last Friday against the host Chicago White Sox. He went five innings and gave up one run on five hits, with two walks and six strikeouts.

Castillo is 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in six career starts against the Marlins.

Castillo has lost his past two starts despite allowing just four earned runs. The right-hander absorbed a 5-4 defeat last Friday against the host Angels — giving up a pair of two-run homers — despite striking out 10.

–Field Level Media

Finally, the San Diego Padres are on a bit of a run.

They have won four of their past five games and would be riding a season-best five-game winning streak had they not blown two late-game leads in the rain Sunday in Denver.

And as much as that loss stings, Padres manager Bob Melvin is seeing some of the results he has expected all season. The Padres are 7-4 in June while averaging a run a game more than they had over the season’s first two months.

“This was good,” Melvin said after Tuesday night’s 6-3 win over Cleveland to open a six-game homestand that concludes with three weekend games against Tampa Bay.

“It was especially good at home where we’ve had a little problem on offense,” Melvin continued. “The crowd got into it. And we came through.”

The Padres will be looking to maintain the momentum Wednesday night when try to clinch a second straight series win. The Guardians’ Aaron Civale (2-1, 2.31 ERA) goes against the Padres’ Michael Wacha (6-2, 3.18) in a pairing of right-handers.

While Wacha was the National League Pitcher of the Month for May, this will be just Civale’s third start since he returned from the injured list after missing almost eight weeks with a left oblique strain. In those first two starts, Civale, who turned 28 on Monday, has given up two runs on eight hits and four walks with seven strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings.

“It can be difficult for a pitcher returning from his type of injury,” Guardians’ manager Terry Francona said before Civale’s most recent start. “But he’s looked very sharp.”

Civale has made four starts on the season and given up six runs on 19 hits and six walks with 15 strikeouts in 23 1/3 innings. He will be making his second career start against the Padres. Last season, he held San Diego to one run on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

Wacha, who signed with the Padres days after spring training opened in February, has been San Diego’s most dependable pitcher this season. The Padres are 8-4 in his starts, and he hasn’t given up more than two runs in a game since April 26.

Over his past seven starts, Wacha is 4-1 with a 1.05 ERA, giving up five runs on 21 hits and 13 walks with 41 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings. Quite a change from the first month of the season when Wacha had a 6.75 ERA.

Wacha has two career starts against Cleveland — in 2015 and 2021 — with a 1-0 record, 1.64 ERA, 13 strikeouts and 11 innings pitched. The Guardians enter the game 6-3 in their past nine games.

“Wacha is on quite a run,” Melvin said recently. “He is pitching, keeping hitters off balance with pitch selection, movement and location.”

–Field Level Media

Merrill Kelly will look to win his eighth consecutive decision when the Arizona Diamondbacks face the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night in Phoenix.

The 34-year-old right-hander will try to help the Diamondbacks bounce back from Tuesday’s 15-3 shellacking in the second contest of a four-game series. Arizona won Monday’s opener 9-8 before having its six-game winning streak halted.

Kelly has won his past five starts while posting a 2.55 ERA and striking out 36 in 31 2/3 innings during that span. At 8-3 with a 2.92 ERA overall, he is tied for the National League lead in victories and is a strong candidate to make his first All-Star Game.

Kelly hasn’t lost a start since April 22 against the San Diego Padres. Since then, he is 7-0 over eight outings and has allowed one earned run in half of his starts.

Kelly gave up a season-worst seven hits while beating the Detroit Tigers on Friday. He allowed three runs, walked two and struck out five.

Kelly is 1-1 with a 1.98 ERA in two career starts against the Phillies. Trea Turner is in his first season with Philadelphia but has consistently worked over Kelly, going 8-of-19 with six RBIs.

The Phillies have 23 runs and 33 hits in the first two games of the series. They had 20 hits — including eight for extra bases — and matched a season high for runs in Tuesday’s win. Kyle Schwarber and Bryson Stott homered, and Philadelphia stole four bases.

J.T. Realmuto, who hit for the cycle on Monday, is 6-for-8 with six runs and four RBIs in the series.

After a slow start, Philadelphia has won eight of its past 10 games to remind people it was the NL team that played in last season’s World Series. And Tuesday’s contest was the most impressive during the 10-game stretch.

“That’s more important than anything, playing good baseball against good teams,” Turner said. “We’re doing everything — pitching, playing defense, timely hitting.”

Tuesday’s setback was just the third in 15 games for Arizona, which allowed a season-worst run total during a substandard effort.

The ugliness included a play in the third inning in which hot-shot rookie Corbin Carroll caught a fly ball in left field. Carroll apparently forgot that was just the second out of the inning as he turned around to retrieve his hat off the ground. Realmuto noticed the gaffe and ran in from third to score.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo looked at his team’s performance as the type that occasionally happens during the season.

“This was — for me — a total outlier,” Lovullo said. “We’ve been playing good baseball. We’ve just got to digest it, throw it out and be ready (Wednesday). The game just didn’t really have a rhythm to it.”

Carroll hit a home run in Tuesday’s contest, his fifth in eight games and 14th of the season. He is 16-for-32 (.500) in the eight-game stretch.

Philadelphia on Wednesday will start left-hander Ranger Suarez (1-2, 4.70), who has allowed one run in each of his last two starts.

Suarez gave up four hits and struck out a season-high eight in six innings during a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. Five days earlier, he beat the Washington Nationals while scattering eight hits over seven innings.

Suarez, 27, gave up five runs and five hits in five innings while taking a no-decision against the Diamondbacks on May 24. He is 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight career appearances (five starts) against Arizona.

Ketel Marte (6-for-15) and Christian Walker (5-for-13) have fared well against Suarez. Evan Longoria has homered off Suarez.

Walker was 4-for-4 in Tuesday’s game.

–Field Level Media