Mike Zunino homered for the 11th time, and Taylor Walls in his big league debut doubled twice and scored his first major league run as the Tampa Bay Rays won their ninth straight game by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 Saturday night in Dunedin.
Toronto jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Rays starter Shane McClanahan allowed a two-out walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then gave up a double to Teoscar Hernandez which allowed Guerrero to score all the way from first base.
Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray allowed a double to Ji-Man Choi in the second, and Randy Arozarena reached on an error in the third, but was able to keep Tampa Bay off the scorboard for the first four innings.
Tampa Bay finally drew even in the fifth as Zunino got a hold of a Ray changeup and blasted it out to left for his 11th home run of the year.
Walls followed with his first major league hit, a double off the right-center field wall, though he would be stranded in scoring position.
The game stayed tied until the eighth inning, when Anthony Castro replaced Ray on the mound. Arozarena started with a base hit, with Yandy Diaz advancing him with a ground ball. Brandon Lowe was intentionally walked by Castro, but Arozarena took third on a wild pitch and ended up scoring on a base hit by Manuel Margot.
Walls gave the Rays an insurance run in the ninth, doubling off Trent Thornton, and moving to third on a wild pitch. Danny Jansen then threw the baseball into left field when trying to throw out Walls, and the rookie raced home to make it 3-1.
The nine wins in a row is the second longest winning streak in franchise history behind the 12 game streak that took place in 2004.
Tampa Bay can make it ten wins straight with a win in Sunday’s third game of the four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 1:07.
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.
