Marc Topkin’s takeaways from Sunday’s Rays-A’s game

As impressive as Willy Adames' 420-foot homer was, making it more so was it came in the at-bat after his base­running blunder, getting doubled off second on Jesus Sucre's bases-loaded liner. All players make mistakes; good ones move on quickly.

Among the benefits of the opener strategy is the ability to adjust situationally. In a traditional rotation, Sunday was Jalen Beeks' day, and the soft-tossing lefty would have pitched. But the A's hit lefties better, so the Rays were able to instead run out mostly right-handers.

1B/DH C.J. Cron hasn't gotten the chance to play regularly since the All-Star break and might not have a future with the Rays. But give him credit for producing when he gets the opportunity: team-leading 27 home runs in 460 at-bats, and nearly half of his hits, 53 of 116, for extra bases.