Rays 12, Athletics 4: Walls Homers From Both Sides, Martinez Goes the Distance

August 11, 2026 - West Sacramento - Taylor Walls went 105 regular-season games without a home run. Then he hit one left-handed in the fourth, one right-handed in the sixth, and finished 4-for-5 on a night the Tampa Bay Rays scored 12 runs and won their eighth straight.

Nick Martinez threw a complete game. Six homers flew out of the Rays lineup. The Athletics lost for the 31st time in their last 38 games. Tuesday was not close, and that might be the point after Monday's eight-run eighth turned a 6-2 deficit into a 10-6 win.

Six bombs, and Walls from both sides

Tampa Bay hit a season-high six home runs. Yandy Díaz went deep in the fourth after Richie Palacios singled. Walls followed with a two-run shot to right-center batting lefty. 6-0 before the fifth ended.

Walls came back batting right-handed in the sixth and pulled a solo homer to left off Brady Basso. 7-2. He is the first switch-hitter in Rays history to homer from both sides in the same game twice. The other time was April 18, 2023, against Cincinnati.

Junior Caminero, Victor Mesa Jr., and Carson Williams added blasts. Williams' three-run shot in the eighth came after Jacob Wilson misfired on a flip at second, ending a 112-game errorless streak at shortstop. The Rays have scored 22 runs in the first two games of this series and are 8-0 on a nine-game road trip.

Martinez finished what Monday's bullpen almost broke

Martinez (12-3) worked nine innings on 101 pitches. Five strikeouts, eight hits, four earned runs, no walks. His second career complete game and his first nine-inning finish with a win. After Monday's bullpen meltdown, Tampa Bay did not need drama from the pen on Tuesday. It needed innings. Martinez ate them.

Mason Barnett gave up six runs on five hits in four innings, including three homers for the second straight start. Lawrence Butler hit a two-run homer in the fifth. Carlos Cortes doubled in two in the ninth. The final was 12-4, and it still felt like a step back from the night before only if you ignore the scoreboard.

Eight in a row, and the East keeps widening

Tampa Bay is 73-46 and has not lost since the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The Yankees won Tuesday, but the Rays' cushion in the AL East is still six games with 44 to play. This is not a team scraping by on one hot week. It is a team that won Monday with an eight-run rally and won Tuesday with six homers and a complete game.

Walls has 24 career homers in 581 big-league games. Tuesday was his second two-homer game ever. Sometimes the story is a switch-hitter ending a drought with both swings in the same box score.

AthX Engine angle

Tampa Bay tied San Diego atop the team board with 23 AthX Engine team fantasy points. Walls led every hitter on the slate with 12 fantasy points. Martinez's complete game was worth 18 pitching fantasy points. The Athletics finished at minus-5.

Track Walls, Martinez, and the Rays on the marketplace. AthX Engine grades the production. Price is what traders pay next.

*Sources: MLB.com schedule, ESPN recap, AP recap via ABC News, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 11, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*