The Tampa Bay Rays ran into a one-man wrecking crew in Bo Bichette, who homered and drove in five runs, powering the Toronto Blue Jays to take the rubber mach from the Rays 6-3 Wednesday afternoon at Rogers Centre.
Bichette’s three-run blast off Michael Wacha in the bottom of the first inning followed a walk to Marcus Semien and a double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., putting the Rays in an early hole that they could not escape from.
The same trio worked together to add Toronto’s next run in the third, with Semien singling, moving to third on Guerrero’s second double of the afternoon, and scoring on a Bichette sacrifice fly.
Tampa Bay finally got on the board in the top of the fifth, when Mike Zunino took Robbie Ray deep for his 30th home run of the year.
But Wacha not only gave the run back in the bottom of the inning with a Bichette RBI single, but Teoscar Hernandez followed with a base hit of his own, extending the lead to 6-1.
Ray would get through seven complete, allowing just four hits and the one run while striking out 13.
Brett Phillips got the Rays back to within a grand slam in the eighth against Joakim Soria, following a base hit by Taylor Walls with a two-run homer, his 12th of the year.
But the Rays would get no closer, as Soria finished out the eighth, and Jordan Romano worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 18th save.
The loss cuts Tampa Bay’s lead in the American League East back to eight games over the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Red Sox, and keeps their magic number at nine to win the division.
The Rays will begin their final homestand of the 2021 regular season Thursday, a ten-game affair that starts with four games against the Detroit Tigers. Louis Head (1-0, 2.67 ERA) will open Thursday’s first game, with Dietrich Enns slated to work the bulk of the contest, taking on Tyler Alexander (2-2, 4.09 ERA). First pitch is 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.
