The Tampa Bay Rays walked over the Oakland Athletics 11-0 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Saturday, extending their season start winning streak to eight games, the best since 2003 in the Major Baseball League (MLB).

If the Rays beat the Athletics again at home on Sunday, they will match the Kansas City Royals which won all of their first nine games in 2003.

During their eight straight wins, the Rays outscored their opponents 64-18 in total and by four or more runs in each of them. The last major league team that had a similarly dominant performance was the New York Yankees that did so in 10 games in 1939.

Randy Arozarena, Isaac Paredes and Brandon Lowe hit four, three and three runs batted in (RBIs) respectively for the Rays in Saturday's game. Pitcher Jeffrey Springs allowed only three hits while striking out seven Athletics in seven innings with a 2-0 record.

"Early on, kind of fought mechanics," Springs said after the game. "It was a grind. Overall, I felt alright, not great, but it helps a lot when my offense is doing what they're doing."

"When you're winning games like this, a lot of things got to be going well," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "So, I think we're all pretty impressed with every facet out there."

Compared with the Rays' easy win and impressive start, the Athletics have been struggling since the 2023 season began. Having won only two of their first eight games, the team is at the bottom of both the American League (AL) and the AL West.

Pitcher Shintaro Fujinami, in his second starting game for the Athletics, began Saturday's competition well by allowing no hit until the fourth inning. Wander Franco's infield single sent him and Lowe to the first and second bases.

"I started off pretty well in the first three innings," Fujinami said. "But the fourth inning I walked a guy, and from there it kind of went down."

It went down in a really bad way because Fujinami allowed five runs, three hits and four walks and hit a batter during the 4⅓ innings he pitched. His team held the first three inning at 0-0 but trailed 8-0 after the sixth inning.