Rays maul A's, improve to 9-0

The white-hot Tampa Bay Rays continued their onslaught on the unfortunate teams on their schedule and the MLB record books, crushing the visiting Oakland Athletics 11-0 on Easter Sunday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. for their ninth straight win to open the season.

The Rays' 9-0 start matched that of the 2003 Kansas City Royals for the hottest streak to start a season in baseball's wild-card era.

Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam to lead the Tampa Bay assault and Drew Rasmussen and two relievers combined on a one-hitter. Ramon Laureano doubled with two outs in the second for the lone Oakland hit.

Wander Franco, Lowe and Harold Ramirez homered in the first five innings as the Rays built a 7-0 lead off Oakland starter James Kaprielian.

Tampa Bay have outscored their opponents 75-18. The Rays' plus-57 run differential through nine games is the largest ever in MLB since 1900.

The Athletics have lost four straight games. They were outscored 31-5 in the three-game series with the Rays.

Franco started the scoring by lashing a rising line drive 383 feet into the right-field seats for a 1-0 lead, his fourth home run. After the Rays loaded the bases in the fourth, Lowe crushed a grand slam to left. Ramirez added to the homer parade in the fifth with a 441-foot two-run shot to straight-away center.

Tampa Bay tacked on two more in the sixth on an RBI single by Randy Arozarena off Trevor May, and May walked Josh Lowe with the bases loaded and the Rays led 9-0.

In the bottom of the seventh, Brandon Lowe drove in Christian Bethancourt for his fifth RBI of the game. A Josh Lowe RBI single in the eighth capped the scoring.

The Rays' pitching was equally impressive, as Rasmussen struck out eight over seven innings. Ryan Thompson and Jason Adam finished as Tampa Bay's three pitchers faced just two batters over the minimum.

Tampa Bay's pitching staff have only allowed 18 runs over the first nine games, while the Rays' batters have hit 21 home runs.