• With Yandy Diaz the latest Rays hitter to be sidelined, they need others to step up, and manager Kevin Cash has pretty much challenged them. Willy Adames made a good case Thursday, going 3-for-4, just a triple short of the cycle.
• Just when it seems like the Rays should have exhausted their bad luck, they were done in by some crumbled pecans. Daniel Robertson had to leave the game due to an allergic reaction to nuts that he didn’t know were in a sweet potato dish he ate.
• In racing out to a majors-best 14-4 start to the season, a big part of the Rays’ success was scoring first and, specifically, in the first. Cash said they’ve been pitched to a bit tougher, but he welcomed the return to that form with two runs in the first.