Robbie Ray has had a strong first half for the Toronto Blue Jays, and he finished it p by allowing just one hit and striking out eleven in seven shutout innings, helping Toronto defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 Sunday to wrap up the first half of the 2021 regular season schedule.
Both Ray and Rays starter Rich Hill put up zeroes through two innings, but Toronto was able to take the lead in the third, as Danny Jansen got a curveball up in the zone and sent it into the seats in left for his fourth home run of the year.
The Blue Jays added on an inning later against Hill, with Teoscar Hernandez singling with one out and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. drawing a walk. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base, and Santiago Espinal‘s single, the first of three hits on the afternoon for the third baseman made it 2-0. A sacrifice fly by Cavan Biggio extended Toronto’s lead to 3-0.
Ray allowed a two-out walk to Yandy Diaz in the first, but kept Tampa Bay out of the hit column until the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Rays third baseman again came to the plate and took a fastball and nearly hit it over the fence in left, settling for a double.
Ray (7-4) would get Austin meadows to ground into a fielder’s choice that erased Diaz on the base paths and got Randy Arozarena to fly out to center to end the first threat of the afternoon.
After Tim Mayza worked a perfect eighth in relief of Ray, Jordan Romano could not complete the shutout bid, as Brandon Lowe homered to straightaway center, his 21st home run of the year and seventh in his last nine games.
Diaz would single with two outs in the inning to allow Meadows to come to the plate as the potential tying run, but Romano got Meadows to pop out to Bo Bichette in foul territory to end the game.
Tampa Bay heads into the All-Star break 1 1/2 games behind the Boston red Sox, and just one game back in the loss column. They will resume the regular season Friday, when they begin a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park.
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.
