Rays just won 9 straight road games. They're the second team in MLB history with a West Coast trip of that kind

It’s Aug. 13, and the Tampa Bay Rays entered the day with the best record in baseball. That newly minted mark of 74-46 is sparkling after manager Kevin Cash’s squad just polished off a historic nine-game winning streak, which is tied for the longest in franchise history and comes with added significance.

The AL East-leading Rays, seemingly destined to end their two-year playoff drought, defeated the Athletics 8-4 on Wednesday in West Sacramento and, in the process, became the second team in MLB history to win all nine-plus games of a road trip out West.

The only other team to do so in Mountain and Pacific time zones during the modern era is the 1977 Boston Red Sox, who went a combined 9-0 against the Angels, Mariners and Athletics from July 29-Aug. 7 that year, according to MLB.com, which cited the the Elias Sports Bureau.

This year’s Rays replicated that stretch of dominance from Aug. 3-12, first sweeping the Rockies in Colorado, then the Mariners in Seattle and finally the A’s in their temporary home. Along the way, Tampa Bay outscored its competition by a total of 31 runs.

That’s not to say the Rays stacked blowout after blowout, though. In fact, their streak could have ended at multiple points, like when they needed 11 innings to get past the Rockies on Aug. 4 and when they relied on their pitching to scrape out one-run wins over the Mariners on Aug. 7 and 8.

Two-time All-Star Drew Rasmussen glimmered with seven scoreless frames in the first of those two nail-biters, and the Rays rode out a bullpen game in the second one.

Rasmussen was back on the bump Wednesday against the A’s. That time around, he gave up a pair of runs in five innings of work; however, Tampa Bay’s bats provided plenty of support — all series, actually.

They punished a struggling Athletics pitching staff, putting up 10 runs, 12 runs and eight runs, respectively, across the three-game set.

“We did everything really well,” Cash said, per MLB.com. “We hit well. We pitched well. We defended well. We ran the bases well.

“As a result, we found a way to get nine wins. Very impressive by that group.”

The Rays will resume play at home on Friday against the Baltimore Orioles following a day of rest and a bit of history their wake.