Jake Mangum goes 4 for 4 in second MLB game to help the Rays beat Pirates 6-1 in first night game

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jake Mangum got two hits from each side of the plate to finish 4 for 4 in his second major league game, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 on Monday night in their first game under the lights at Steinbrenner Field.

The Rays had just four players with a four-hit game all of last season.

The 29-year-old Mangum, who made his big league debut on Sunday, got his first career hit in the third inning and then stole his first base. He finished with a double, three singles and two RBIs.

Tampa Bay took control after sending 10 men to the plate in a four-run fourth that Mangum capped with a single up the middle, scoring two.

Mangum also scored from second in the sixth when José Caballero hit a deep shot that went off the glove of right fielder Jack Suwinski.

Four Tampa Bay pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts and no walks. Drew Rasmussen (1-0), coming back from his third elbow procedure, rejoined the starting rotation and allowed two hits in five scoreless innings, while striking out four.

Pittsburgh starter Carmen Mlodzinski (0-1) allowed four runs and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.

In the fourth, Jonathan Aranda hit his fourth double in four games. Then Christopher Morel singled in Junior Caminero to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.

Kameron Misner’s stand-up double made it 2-0 on the Rays’ fourth straight. Mangum added a two-run single.

Tampa Bay went 4 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

The teams meet again Tuesday as the Rays continue a season-opening six-game homestand at their temporary ballpark. RHP Shane Baz starts for Tampa Bay. The Pirates had not announced a starter.

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Tampa Bay Rays' Jake Mangum, right, celebrate scoring with Yandy Díaz during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski throws against the Tampa Bay Rays during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski throws against the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Oneil Cruz, right, steals second base as Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, front left, waits for a late throw during the first inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the second inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Tampa Bay Rays' Christopher Morel, left, and Kameron Misner, right, celebrate after scoring during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda, right, follows through on a double in front of Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Joey Bart during the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jake Mangum celebrates with teammates after hitting in two runs during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

Tampa Bay Rays' Jake Mangum celebrates scoring against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, March 31, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The United States airstrikes that targeted Islamic State militants in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday marked a major escalation in an offensive that Nigeria's overstretched military has struggled with for years.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on social media that the “powerful and deadly” strikes were carried out against Islamic State militants “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.” Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.

Nigeria, which is battling multiple armed groups, said the U.S. strikes were part of an exchange of intelligence and strategic coordination between the two countries.

The Associated Press could not confirm the extent of the strikes' impact. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a post on X about the airstrikes, said: “More to come...”

The armed groups in Africa’s most populous country include at least two affiliated with the Islamic State — an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) known locally as Lakurawa and prominent in the northwest.

Although officials did not say exactly which group was targeted, security analysts said the target, if indeed against Islamic State militants, was likely members of Lakurawa, which became more lethal in border states like Sokoto and Kebbi in the last year, often targeting remote communities and security forces.

The Nigerian military has said in the past that the group has roots in neighboring Niger and that it became more active in Nigeria's border communities following a 2023 military coup. That coup resulted in fractured relations between Nigeria and Niger, and affected their multinational military operations along the porous border.

Multiple analysts have said Lakurawa has been active in northwest Nigeria since around 2017 when it was invited by traditional authorities in Sokoto to protect their communities from bandit groups.

The militants, however, "overstayed their welcome, clashing with some of the community leaders ... and enforcing a harsh interpretation of sharia law that alienated much of the rural population,” according to James Barnett, an Africa researcher with the Washington-based Hudson Institute.

“Communities now openly say that Lakurawa are more oppressive and dangerous than the bandits they claim to protect them from," according to Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa.

Lakurawa controls territories in Sokoto and Kebbi states, and has become known for killings, kidnapping, rape and armed robbery, Samuel said.

But some of the attacks blamed on Lakurawa are by the Islamic State Sahel Province, which has expanded from Niger’s Dosso region to northwestern Nigeria, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

“ISSP has maintained a low profile, operating covertly to infiltrate and entrench itself along the Niger-Nigeria border, and is now also expanding its operations toward the Beninese border,” the project said in a recent report.

The security woes are more of a governance problem than a military one.

Motives for attacks differ but the gangs are often driven by the near absence of a state and security presence in conflict hot spots, making recruitment easy. Those hot spots, data show, have some of the country's highest levels of poverty, hunger and lack of jobs.

Nigeria’s Minister of Defense Christopher Musa once said in his past capacity as the defense chief that military action is only 30% of what is needed to fix the country's security crisis, while the remaining 70% depends on good governance.

“The absence of the state in remote communities is making it easy for non-state actors to come in and present themselves to the people as the best alternative government,” said Samuel.

Thursday's U.S. strikes were seen as crucial help for Nigeria’s security forces, which are often overstretched and outgunned as they fight multiple security crises across different regions.

In states like Sokoto, the military often carries out airstrikes targeting militant hideouts and Nigeria has embarked on mass recruitment of security forces.

But analysts say military operations targeting the gangs are not usually sustained and the militants easily move on motorcycles to new locations through vast forests that connect several states in the north.

They also often use hostages — including schoolchildren — as cover, making airstrikes difficult.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)