ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ryan Vilade hit a three-run homer, Ben Williamson posted a career-best four hits and Jonathan Aranda had three more and an RBI to give Tampa Bay a 6-1 win over Seattle on Saturday afternoon.
Vilade’s line drive off Gabe Speier broke open a 2-1 game with two out in the seventh, scoring Aranda and Junior Caminero. The first pinch-hit homer of Vilade’s career, it came after Seattle intentionally walked Caminero.
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Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz celebrates after scoring on a double by Jonathan Aranda, not pictured, during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda celebrates after his double during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Seattle Mariners pitcher Gabe Speier throws during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Cam Booser celebrates as he comes to the dugout after striking out Seattle Mariners' J.P. Crawford during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Tampa Bay Rays' Ryan Vilade, front right, celebrates after his three-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Williamson, drafted by the Mariners in 2023 and traded to Tampa Bay in February, knotted the game in the second with a double that scored Chandler Simpson from first. Williamson then scored an insurance run in the eighth as the Rays handed Seattle its fifth straight loss, tying a season high.
Tampa Bay, meanwhile, padded the American League’s best record to remain four games in front of the New York Yankees in the AL East.
Back-to-back doubles in the third, including a gapper from Aranda to plate Yandy Díaz, gave the Rays their first lead, 2-1.
Seattle held a 1-0 advantage when Cole Young scored on Colt Emerson’s second-inning sac fly. But the Mariners never saw another runner reach third base as Garrett Jax (5-6) and the three Rays relievers combined to retire 19 of the final 23.
The Mariners were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position and are 0 for 20 in their last three games.
Evan Longoria was inducted into the Rays Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony, which delayed the first pitch by 25 minutes. The event drew 22,597, Tropicana Field’s highest attendance since Tampa Bay beat the Cubs in the April 6 home opener. The franchise will retire Longoria’s No. 3 on Sunday.
Logan Gilbert (7-6) fanned Jonny DeLuca in the second to become the fifth ever to reach 1,000 strikeouts in a Mariners uniform.
LHP Ian Seymour (6-1, 4.11 ERA) gets the nod for Tampa Bay in the series finale on Sunday against Mariners RHP Emerson Hancock (6-4, 3.23).
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz celebrates after scoring on a double by Jonathan Aranda, not pictured, during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda celebrates after his double during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Seattle Mariners pitcher Gabe Speier throws during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Cam Booser celebrates as he comes to the dugout after striking out Seattle Mariners' J.P. Crawford during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
Tampa Bay Rays' Ryan Vilade, front right, celebrates after his three-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Saturday, July 11, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said it considers the Strait of Hormuz closed once again after a vessel using an ‘unauthorized route’ was struck by a warning shot in the critical waterway, further jeopardizing the already tenuous ceasefire agreement with the United States.
U.S. Central Command said a short time later that its forces began a third round of strikes against Iran.
“The United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait,” the military said.
A Cyprus-flagged container ship struck by Iran suffered “significant engineroom damage” and a civilian crew member is missing, U.S. Central Command said.
Senior U.S. officials had previously said in Washington that negotiations to further cement last month's deal to end the war will be unable to progress without the strait being secure — and had even said they expected Iran to offer public statements to that effect.
Instead, the Revolutionary Guards Corps stated in an online post on Saturday that Iran launched warning shots at a “violating ship.” Iran further reported that the strait would now remain closed until further notice.
Those announcements followed Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers meeting on Saturday to discuss the strait that lies between them, after days of Iranian attacks on ships and U.S. retaliation that dealt a blow to the interim deal to end the war.
Iran’s new supreme leader, still unseen since the war began, also vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war’s opening strikes on Feb. 28.
Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried on state television, hours after President Donald Trump threatened more missile attacks.
Oman said it and Iran agreed to keep talking about the Strait of Hormuz “at the technical and political levels,” a day after the United States called on Iran to publicly say the crucial waterway is open and ships won’t be attacked.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he met with his counterpart in Oman to discuss “appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the safe passage of ships.”
The world for decades has considered the strait an international waterway. Iran has insisted that the strait now remain under its control and that it be allowed to charge ships moving through it, a stance it took after the war began. The U.S. urges mariners to transit on a southern route through Oman’s territorial waters.
About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran’s grip on it during the war led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.
Iran's top diplomat also accused the U.S. of violating the interim deal by ending waivers allowing Iran to sell crude oil on the open market in U.S. dollars. Washington ended them in response to the attacks on ships in the strait.
“Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance,” Araghchi wrote on X.
A thousand “missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat,” Trump wrote on social media overnight
He said he was responding to threats “to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate” him. During Khamenei's funeral, mourners held posters or banners calling for Trump to be killed along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump has declared the ceasefire over but said the U.S. would continue negotiations.
U.S. officials, speaking Friday on condition of anonymity about the current situation with Iran, said the resumption of strikes in recent days came after what they described as a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners tried to sabotage the ceasefire.
Iran has insisted its theocracy is unified under the new supreme leader.
After the U.S. wrapped up its latest strikes on Thursday, more attacks reportedly hit Iran, raising questions about who else may be targeting the Islamic Republic.
Israel didn't claim them, meaning the Gulf Arab states may have launched them, likely as a means to deter Iran from attacking them again. Iran on Thursday retaliated for U.S. strikes by targeting Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.
The strikes in Iran over two days killed at least 17 people and wounded 115 others, Iranian Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said.
Price and Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.
A pro-government demonstrator wears an Iranian flag as she waves a religious flag in a gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A pro-government demonstrator holds an anti-Trump placard in a gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A girl waves an Iranian flag in a pro-government gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A man holds a poster of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a gathering commemorating him at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A cleric waves an Iranian flag while holding a child as a woman waves a religious flag in a pro-government gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Mostafa Khamenei, center, brother of Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, leads a prayer over the coffin of his late father, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before his burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by Iran's Supreme Leader's office, mourners chant and raise their fists during the final funeral ceremony for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Imam Reza Shrine before his burial in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In this photo released by Iran's Supreme Leader's office, mourners carry the coffin of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei above the crowd for the final prayer before his burial at the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
