Rookie Wade Meckler slugged his first career grand slam in the first inning, and the Los Angeles Angels evened their series with Tampa Bay by pummeling the Rays 14-3 on Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.

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Meckler went 2-for-4 with two runs and a stolen base and staked his club to a 4-0 lead before the Rays batted as the Angels breezed to their sixth win in eight games.

Mike Trout was 2-for-3 with a homer, three runs and two walks. Jo Adell ripped a three-run homer and Oswald Peraza also went deep. Donovan Walton had two hits with an RBI double and a run.

With a no-hitter in his 11th career start against the Rays four seasons ago on his resume, Reid Detmers (2-5) allowed three runs on five hits in five innings.

He fanned seven with three walks to win for the first time since April 14 at the New York Yankees.

Yandy Diaz homered in his two hits and scored twice, and Junior Caminero had two doubles, two walks and an RBI.

Drew Rasmussen (4-2) surrendered a season-high five runs on four hits to lose for the first time in five May starts. He struck out four and walked two in four innings.

The Angels took advantage of Trout’s single and Rasmussen’s two walks to set up Meckler, who entered with four RBIs on the season, for his best pro moment. He stroked a 397-foot blast to right for his second career homer and a 4-0 lead.

After a two-homer Friday, Diaz started the bottom half with his second straight leadoff shot, but Detmers escaped a bases-loaded, one-out situation.

Walton reclaimed the run in the fourth with a double that plated Meckler to make it 5-1.

Trout took reliever Casey Legumina deep for a solo shot in the next frame, cranking his team-best 14th deep ball 417 feet to left.

The Rays made it 6-3 by answering twice on Caminero’s second double and Ryan Vilade’s groundout in the bottom half, but Los Angeles reliever Sam Bachman stranded three runners on a lineout by Jonathan Aranda in the sixth.

Zach Neto stole third base in the seventh and then scored on a wild pitch, but the collision at home plate with pitcher Ian Seymour forced the shortstop out of the game.

In a seven-run ninth, Adell’s blast off the lower ring and Peraza’s homer helped account for the final margin.

Rockies
extend Giants’
losing streak

Jake McCarthy homered, singled twice and drove in four runs, Ryan Feltner returned to the rotation with six shutout innings and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 8-3 in Denver on Saturday night.

Kyle Karros also went deep, and TJ Rumfield and Willi Castro had two hits each for Colorado, which has won consecutive games for the first time since May 7-8.

Drew Gilbert homered among his two hits, and Jung Hoo Lee and Matt Chapman also had two hits for San Francisco, which has lost five in a row.

Feltner (2-1) was activated from the injured list (right ulnar nerve inflammation) to make his first start since April 23. He retired the first five batters he faced before Chapman’s two-out double in the second, and he erased leadoff singles in the third and fifth innings with double-play grounders.

He left after scattering four hits and fanning two to earn his first win since April 6.

The Rockies, who used a five-run rally in the ninth inning to win 8-6 Friday night, built on that momentum in the first inning against Adrian Houser.

McCarthy led off with a walk and one out later, Goodman drew a base on balls to put runners on first and second. Castro followed with an RBI single, Ezequiel Tovar followed with a two-out single and Houser hit Sterlin Thompson with the bases loaded to make it 2-0.

McCarthy lined a two-run homer into the Colorado bullpen in the fourth inning, his third of the season, to double the Rockies’ lead.

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Houser (2-5) allowed four runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked two.

The Rockies made it 5-0 on McCarthy’s RBI single in the fifth and then padded the advantage in the seventh.

Karros led off the inning with a pinch-hit homer, his third of the season, Tyler Freeman reached on a bloop double and scored on McCarthy’s single. McCarthy stole second and scored on Rumfield’s single.

Gilbert spoiled Colorado’s shutout bid with a two-run homer in the eighth, his third, and Chapman had a two-out RBI single in the ninth.

Nationals explode for six-run inning, beat Padres

Luis Garcia Jr. hit a two-run single to highlight a six-run seventh inning as the Nationals rallied past the San Diego Padres for a 9-4 win Saturday in Washington.

Garcia had two hits and Drew Millas homered for the Nationals, who had lost two straight.

Washington trailed 3-1 entering the seventh when CJ Abrams led off with a single off Michael King. Jose Tena then reached on a fielder’s choice, moving Abrams to second. Jorbit Vivas walked to load the bases and Dylan Crews was hit by a pitch, forcing home a run.

Reliever Bradgley Rodriguez came on and Millas grounded to second baseman Tatis, but Crews was called safe at second with shortstop Xander Bogaerts’ foot not touching the base, and a run scored.

Padres manager Craig Stammen argued the call and was ejected.

Mead walked to force in Washington’s fourth run and, after James Wood struck out, Garcia singled up the middle, scoring two more runs. The final run scored when Daylen Lile beat out a potential double-play grounder as Mead scored.

In the San Diego eighth, Miguel Andujar walked and scored on a double by Manny Machado. Two more walks by Gus Varland loaded the bases, but Clayton Beeter came on to retire Ty France.

Mead doubled home two runs in the bottom half to push the lead to 9-4.

Brad Lord (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win and Beeter picked up his third save.

Bogaerts, Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. homered for the Padres, who have lost five of their past six games.

King (4-4) allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits in six-plus innings.

Bogaerts homered to center with one out in the second inning to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.

Millas tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the third with a shot to right.

San Diego regained the lead in the fourth on Machado’s home run.

Tatis made it 3-1 in the fifth when he connected for his first home run of the season.

Foster Griffin allowed three runs on five hits – three of them home runs — over five innings for Washington.

Astros use
active bats to cool down Brewers

Jeremy Pena and Isaac Paredes capped three-run uprisings with two-run, extra-base hits to help the Houston Astros claim a 9-2 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.

Pena finished 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs, while Paredes went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Yordan Alvarez and Jake Meyers also produced multi-hit games for the Astros, while Christian Walker clubbed his 16th homer, an opposite-field, three-run shot in the eighth.

Meyers’ run-scoring single in the bottom of the second inning plated Cam Smith and pulled the Astros even at 1-1.

Two batters later, Pena drilled a two-run home run out to left field, his third home run of the season covering 392 feet and lifting the Astros to a 3-1 lead.

Brewers right-hander Brandon Sproat (1-4) stranded runners on the corners in the bottom of the first by getting Paredes to ground out to the right side of the infield. He retired seven of the next eight batters after the Pena homer, but came undone when Pena led off the fifth with a single.

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