The Rays own the top AL wild-card spot. They have won four straight and 10 of 12, and they moved a season-best 12 games over .500 at 67-55.

Bethancourt homered and hit a two-run single in a six-run seventh that gave the Rays a 9-1 lead. With Tampa Bay ahead by 10 in the ninth, manager Kevin Cash sent his catcher to the mound.

Bethancourt was no ordinary position player pitching. His fastball topped out at 95 mph as he allowed two hits and struck out Luis Rengifo.

By contrast, Los Angeles infielder Phil Gosselin got three straight outs in the ninth on five pitches that ranged from 48 to 51 mph.

Los Angeles’ Mike Trout homered in the sixth for his 1,500th career hit. It gave him 1,023 runs scored, which is one short of Garret Anderson’s franchise record.

Corey Kluber (8-7) gave up one run on five hits in six innings.

Shohei Ohtani singled in three at-bats as the Angels’ designated hitter. The AL MVP left his pitching start at Detroit on Sunday after four innings with a stomach virus, and he pinch-hit in Monday’s 2-1 loss to the Rays.

The Angels have lost seven of eight and have totaled six runs over their last five games. Los Angeles (52-71) fell 19 games under .500 for the first time since Sept. 22, 2016.

Manuel Margot and Harold Ramirez had run-scoring singles in the third off Jose Suarez (4-6) as the Rays took a 2-0 lead.

Suarez struck out five in a row after Ramirez’s hit. The lefty allowed three runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Trout made it 2-1 on his 25th homer off Kluber, a shot that struck an overhanging left field catwalk. Ohtani hit a drive later in the inning that was caught near the warning track in left.

Tampa Bay went up 3-1 in the sixth on Isaac Paredes’ homer.

Taylor Walls had a two-run single in Tampa Bay’s big seventh inning. Yandy Diaz, Margot and Randy Arozarena had RBI doubles.