A sore Sonny Gray pitches A's past Rays 7-2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Sonny Gray was sore, but he could handle it. Wins tend to have that effect.

Gray allowed four hits in five scoreless innings before leaving with a bruised right ankle as the Athletics beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-2 on Sunday.

Gray (5-2) was hit on the lower leg by James Loney’s grounder in the fourth, and stayed in for a while longer.

“It feels OK … not great,” Gray said. “Probably just a couple days of treatment and stuff, and more than likely be ready to go.”

Oakland manager Bob Melvin doesn’t expect Gray to miss a start. X-rays showed no damage.

Gray had lost his previous two starts.

“After the fourth inning it got really, really tight and stiff,” Gray said. “I just wasn’t able to push off.”

Gray struck out four.

“We know about Sonny Gray, he’s as good as anybody in the American League,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Billy Burns hit the first pitch of the game into the right-field seats for his first major league homer.

“That was a surprise. It wasn’t a surprise he swung at the first pitch,” Melvin said with a smile.

Burns hit two homers in 1,511 minor league at-bats. “I was kind of shocked, honestly,” he said.

Burns got his first big league RBI on Saturday night with a bases-loaded walk. He topped that in the top of the first against Erasmo Ramirez.

Mark Canha and Josh Reddick also homered as the A’s won consecutive games for the second time this season. The only other time they did it was April 13-14 against Houston.

“We came in here the first two games and looked pretty bad,” Gray said. “To turn it around the last two, it was some big wins for sure.”

Ramirez (2-2) took the loss as Tampa Bay took a four-game split.

Canha put the Athletics up 5-0 with a three-run homer in the sixth Ramirez. Reddick made it 6-0 with a solo homer in the seventh.

Logan Forsythe cut the Rays deficit to 6-2 with a two-run single during the eighth.

Steven Souza Jr. made contact with A’s catcher Stephen Vogt as he was being tagged out while trying to score from first base on Loney’s first-inning single. When left fielder Sam Fuld threw the ball to second base, Souza continued past third but was thrown out at the plate by shortstop Marcus Semien.

Vogt hit a sacrifice fly in both the third and ninth innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Athletics: 3B Brett Lawrie (back) is feeling better but was out of the lineup for the second straight game. …INF-OF Ben Zobrist (knee) is expected back today. … LHP Drew Pomeranz (shoulder) will resume playing catch today. - LHP Eric O’Flaherty (shoulder) could start a rehab assignment this week.

Rays: Souza left in third with a sprained left wrist, which occurred on a swing. He said X-rays showed no damage. … SS Asdrubal Cabrera left with a strained left groin. … Loney played the whole game, but was wearing a brace postgame after spraining his left middle finger. He was hurt sliding into third base on an eighth-inning stolen base.