The Tampa Bay Rays are riding a power surge and sporting a new All-Star, the team’s fifth, and will try to keep rolling Saturday afternoon when they face the Seattle Mariners in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The American League East-leading Rays hit four home runs in Friday night’s 7-2 rout of the Mariners, who have fallen one game below .500, and Tampa Bay did it behind new All-Star Nick Martinez.

The club’s 16 home runs lead the AL in July.

The Rays moved their home mark to a majors-best 34-14, and Martinez improved to 8-2 with a 2.65 ERA with 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against Seattle, which has lost four straight games and slipped out of first place in the AL West on a disastrous road trip that began in Miami.

Martinez was added to the AL squad on Friday after an injury to Boston Red Sox pitcher Ranger Suarez took the southpaw out of Tuesday’s game.

Victor Mesa Jr., who hit the third of the team’s long shots, said he could not be happier for his 35-year-old pitcher’s first All-Star appearance.

“He deserves it and more,” Mesa said. “He’s a dog. … Obviously, he deserves everything good that is happening to him. I’m happy for him and his family.”

Martinez joins teammates Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminero, Drew Rasmussen and Bryan Baker on the AL club for the midsummer classic in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Seattle starter Luis Castillo, a three-time All-Star, was victimized for three of the homers in five tough innings that led to four runs on nine hits.

“It was all good except for that fifth inning where I gave up two homers,” Castillo said via a translator of the homers by Cedric Mullins and Mesa. “To me, it was just two bad pitches where I put them right where I didn’t want to.”

Seattle was largely unproductive in its final two games in Miami this week, being outscored 10-4 in two defeats and going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

In Friday’s series opener by the bay, it was no different.

Tampa Bay outhit the M’s 14-5, with two of Seattle’s hits coming from shortstop J.P. Crawford. The Mariners were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, making them 3-for-40 with 12 strikeouts in that situation over the past five contests.

After losing Thursday’s series finale 8-4 to the Marlins, the AL West club soon fell out of first place that night following Wyatt Langford’s walk-off single as the Texas Rangers won 7-6 over the last-place Los Angeles Angels.

Logan Gilbert (7-5, 3.19 ERA) will start for Seattle on Saturday after going 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA in five June starts. He started July with an 11-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Independence Day, allowing one hit in 7 1/3 innings.

The right-hander has 114 strikeouts in 107 1/3 innings (9.6 per nine) and an 0.95 WHIP after yielding just 80 hits and 22 walks.

In five career starts against the Rays, the Winter Park, Fla., product is 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA.

Tampa Bay’s Griffin Jax (4-6, 3.60 ERA) was outstanding in retiring the first 13 New York Yankees he faced Monday, but he took the loss by walking consecutive batters in the fifth and then seeing Jose Caballero rip a three-run homer in the division rival’s 5-1 win.

In 15 career relief appearances vs. the Mariners, Jax, a right-hander, is 2-2 with a 7.56 ERA.

–Field Level Media

Cristopher Sanchez’s Cy Young Award candidacy took a hit in his last start.

The left-hander will try to bounce back when the visiting Philadelphia Phillies face the red-hot Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.

Sanchez was rocked for nine runs and 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings at Kansas City on Monday, raising his ERA from 2.00 to 2.62. Sanchez (10-4) had tossed seven shutout innings against Pittsburgh in his previous outing, his 13th quality start of the season.

Sanchez only recorded one strikeout against the Royals after fanning nine Pirates. However, he said there was nothing wrong with him physically.

“I feel great,” Sanchez said. “That’s why I was a little surprised to have such an outing (Monday), because I feel really good.”

Sanchez had a celebrated 50 2/3 innings scoreless streak earlier this season, so for the 29-year-old left-hander to give up nine runs in one game was stunning.

“I don’t know how to really explain it, but obviously, as long as he’s healthy, he’s going to be fine,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “(Monday’s) hopefully one of those you don’t see very often.”

Kansas City, which scored six runs in the first inning, hit three homers off Sanchez’s normally lethal changeup.

“It’s really tough to see that they hit three homers off me with my pitch,” Sanchez said.

In his lone career outing against Detroit, the All-Star picked up the win after scattering five hits over eight shutout innings last season.

He’ll be opposed by right-hander Casey Mize (4-5, 2.64), who has won his last two starts. Mize blanked the New York Yankees for seven innings while notching 10 strikeouts on June 29, then held Texas to two runs in 6 2/3 innings on Sunday.

“I don’t think I executed my best, but I was still able to go get 20 outs,” said Mize, who struck out 10 batters in 4 1/3 innings but lost his only career outing against Philadelphia.

“The defense played great behind me, and offensively, they put up plenty. So it kind of allowed me just to settle in and try to attack the strike zone and go from there, even when I wasn’t at my best.”

Mize, who will be a free agent after this season, could be dealt this month if the Tigers choose to go into “sell mode” before the trade deadline.

That won’t happen if Detroit keeps piling up wins. The Tigers have won six straight and nine of their last 10, including a 10-2 series-opening victory on Friday. They have outscored opponents 35-9 during their current streak.

“We were playing bad baseball and that isn’t us. I knew eventually we’d get back to us,” said infielder Colt Keith, who hit one of the Tigers’ three homers on Friday.

“It’s a long season and a lot of guys in the clubhouse kept their heads up and just kept working.”

The Phillies have lost four of their last six games. In their last three defeats, their vaunted pitching staff has given up double-digit runs.

The series will conclude on Sunday with another marquee pitching matchup between the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler and the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal.

–Field Level Media

The last two times the Baltimore Orioles opened a home series with a victory, in June, they lost the next two games.

They’ll try to reverse that trend when they have a rematch with the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Baltimore rode Samuel Basallo’s two-run homer in the eighth inning to Friday night’s 5-3 victory. His two-handed bat throw toward the Orioles’ dugout became part of the celebration.

“That’s me having fun right there,” Basallo said. “Obviously a big moment; we’re enjoying that right there.”

The Orioles need more outcomes like that.

“We’ve been fighting, competing, sticking together,” Basallo said. “But we just trust that things are going to get better and start going our way here soon.”

Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino was back with the team to begin the series after a stint on the injured list with a hand injury. He wasn’t used in Friday’s game.

“We obviously wouldn’t do it if I didn’t feel comfortable or they didn’t feel comfortable,” Pasquantino said of returning to the active roster following this week’s rehabilitation stint with Triple-A Omaha. “It’s one of those things where I think I can help this team win, and I’m going to do whatever I can to do my part.”

Pasquantino, a left-handed batter, was considered available for late-inning duty in the series opener. But manager Matt Quatraro chose to allow Salvador Perez, who was the first baseman, to bat with one out in the ninth representing the potential tying run against right-handed reliever Andrew Kittredge.

Perez fouled out to the catcher.

Still, Quatraro said Pasquantino can make an impact that’s needed for the Royals.

“He set his goal really early to get back before the All-Star break, and he had to do a lot of hard work to get here,” Quatraro said. “It’s nice to have him back. … He hasn’t been facing major league pitching every day, so we’ll see what the results are. We’ll see how his body reacts.”

Left-hander Noah Cameron (5-6, 4.77 ERA) will start for the Royals on Saturday.

After four consecutive rough outings, he’s coming off a solid effort and picked up the victory Monday against the Philadelphia Phillies, 15-1, after allowing one run on six hits across five innings. That marked only the third time in Cameron’s last 12 starts that the Royals won the game.

This will be Cameron’s first career matchup against the Orioles.

The Orioles will send right-hander Kyle Bradish (5-9, 3.75 ERA) to the mound. He’ll try to avoid becoming this year’s first 10-game loser in the majors, although he has the most wins among pitchers with nine losses.

Bradish had a peculiar outing at Kansas City on April 20, when he allowed 10 hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings but gave up only one run in a no-decision. That was his only career outing vs. the Royals. The Orioles won the game 7-5 in 12 innings.

–Field Level Media