ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (AP) — Cedric Mullins, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero homered and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 on Monday in their first game at Tropicana Field in 561 days.
The Rays were back in their domed stadium after playing the 2025 season across the bay in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field — the spring training home of the New York Yankees — because Hurricane Milton destroyed the Trop’s roof and caused extensive damage.
A sellout crowd of 25,114 welcomed the Rays home.
Shane McClanahan, making his first start at the Trop since July 22, 2023, allowed two runs and one hit in four innings. He struck out five and walked four.
McClanahan returned to the mound last week for the first time after a series of injuries forced him to miss two full seasons. The lefty underwent his second Tommy John surgery in August 2023 and then missed the entire 2025 season due to an inflamed nerve in his left triceps.
Kevin Kelly (1-1) pitched a perfect fifth to earn the win and Bryan Baker finished for his first save, yielding Matt Shaw's solo shot in the ninth.
Mullins lined a 3-2 changeup into the seats in right field to tie it at 2 in the bottom of the second inning against Jameson Taillon (0-1).
Taylor Walls then drove a double to left-center, and scored when shortstop Dansby Swanson made a throwing error on Yandy Diaz’s infield single.
Caminero blasted a solo shot to left, extending Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-2 in the third.
Michael Busch’s sacrifice fly in the sixth cut it to 4-3.
Aranda connected off Phil Maton in the seventh to put the Rays up 6-3.
Nico Hoerner’s two-run single with two outs in the second inning gave the Cubs a 2-0 lead.
Taillon allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in six innings.
RHP Javier Assad makes his season debut for the Cubs against Rays RHP Drew Rasmussen (0-0, 1.80) on Tuesday night. Assad, who has a 3.43 ERA across four seasons, is taking Matthew Boyd's spot in the rotation. Boyd was placed on the 15-day injured list with a a left biceps strain.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Music speaks to us beyond words; its vibrations reach our core and allow us to connect with … Read moreDiscover the Joy of Piano - Free Piano Lesson for those 50+ years old! (LIMITED SPOTS LEFT)
“Side-splittingly funny and brilliantly chaotic” Read moreThe Play That Goes Wrong
Civil Service said:
[thumbup]
Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.