The Tampa Bay Rays couldn’t hold on to a 5-0 first inning lead ot a 7-5 advantage in the tenth, but a seven-run eleventh inning would let them pul out a 14-8 win over the Toronto Blue Jays Monday in Dunedin, extending their winning streak to 11 straight games.
The Rays took advantage of Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo’s decision to start Trent Thonton instead of Ross Stripling. Randy Arozarena started with a base hit, and after a flyout by Austin Meadows and a strikeout of Brandon Lowe, Manuel Margot reached on an error by Santiago Espinal to extend the inning. Ji-Man Choi walked to load the bases, and Taylor Walls drew a free pass to score Arozarena for his first RBI.
Joey Wendle then took the next pitch and sent it over the wall in left for a grand slam and a 5-0 lead.
Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough allowed just three hits in his six innings of work, all solo home runs. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. got Toronto on the board with his solo shot in the second, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez hit back-to-back solo homers in the fourth.
Montoyo brought in Stripling for the second inning, and the right-hander shut down the Tampa Bay offense. He threw seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and walking two while striking out seven.
Toronto got the game tied in the bottom of the eighth, when pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez tripled off Collin McHugh to start the inning, and after striking out Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette, Guerrero tied the game with a two-run blast to center.
The Rays used a RBI double by Meadows and a base hit by margot in the top of the tenth to re-take the lead, but Semien’s two-run homer off Jeffrey Springs re-knotted the score.
Tampa Bay finally put the Blue Jays away for good in the 11th, as they sent ten men to the plate. Francisco Mejia‘s two-run single broke the tie, and the Rays added additional runs on a double by Arozrena, an RBI groundout by meadows, a two-run triple by Margot, and an RBI double by Mike Brosseau, who came in midway through the game to replace Ji-Man Choi.
Andrew Kittredge allowed an RBI groundout in the bottom of the twelfth, but kept the Blue Jays from getting any closer.
The victory gives the Rays a 1/2 game lead over the idle Boston Red Sox in the American League East, and a full game advantage over the idle New York Yankees.
Tampa Bay returns to Tropicana Field with an opportunity to try and match the franchise record for consecutive wins Tuesday when they take on the Kansas City Royals. Left-hander Rich Hill (3-1, 3.89 ERA) will get the start, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10.
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.
