Overview

• Yainer Diaz drilled a two-out, ninth-inning sinker into the right-field seats to lift Houston to a 2-1 victory over the Rays on Friday night.
• Starter Framber Valdez needed just 83 pitches to complete a three-hit, nine-strikeout masterpiece, tying his season high in strikeouts.
• Ryan Pepiot extended his scoreless streak to 17 2⁄3 innings with 6 2⁄3 shutout frames and two hits allowed in his second straight strong outing.
• On Friday morning, Tampa Bay optioned rookie speedster Chandler Simpson to Triple-A Durham and reinstated outfielder Jake Mangum from the injured list.
• The win evens the four-game series at 1-1 as the teams head to Saturday’s matchup between RHP Zack Littell and LHP Colton Gordon.