The Tampa Bay Rays will be playing beyond the 162nd game of the regular season for the third consecutive season, the first time in franchise history that has happened, as Austin Meadows‘ three-run homer helped power the team to a 7-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field.
Six of Tampa Bay’s seven runs came in the third inning, as the Rays sent ten men to the plate beginning with Brandon Lowe‘s base hit to left off Ross Stripling. Randy Arozarena followed with a double, and after Ji-Man Choi walked to load the bases, and Yandy Diaz opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly. Meadows followed with a blast to the deepest part of right-center, his 26th of the year, for a 4-0 lead.
Manuel Margot‘s line drive single spelled the end for Stripling, and left-hander Tayler Saucedo struck out Kevin Kiermaier, but Francisco Mejia‘s ground-rule double moved Margot to third base and Taylor Walls brought in both runners to make it 6-0.
Luis Patino worked the first three innings for Tampa Bay, allowing just one hit and one walk, before turning over the game to the bullpen.
The Rays extended their lead to 7-0 in the fourth, as Arozrena doubled off Saucedo to start the inning, moved to third on a balk, and scored two batters later on a base hit by Diaz.
Toronto’s only run came in the top of the sixth as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled, took third on a Bo Bichette single, and scored on a Teoscar Hernandez sacrifice fly.
Tempers flared in the eighth, when Ryan Borucki hit Kevin Kiermaier in the back in retaliation for the outfielder taking Alejandro Kirk‘s strategy card in Friday’s game. Both benches cleared, and the umpires ejected both Borucki and pitching coach Pete Walker.
David Robertson worked a 1-2-3 ninth to finish out the game and secure the berth in the postseason.
The win ensures Tampa Bay will have no less than a six-game lead in the American League East with nine games to play.
The Rays will have Thursday off before starting a three-game series against the Miami Marlins on Friday.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
