The Rays wasted no time turning Tuesday night at Rogers Centre into a runaway. By the end of a 12-2 win over the Blue Jays, they had piled up a season-high 21 hits, gotten a strong bounce-back outing from Drew Rasmussen, and watched contributions pour in from just about everywhere in the lineup.
The game’s defining stretch came immediately. Tampa Bay opened the night with two outs and nobody on, then ripped off three runs against Kevin Gausman in the first inning.
Toronto, meanwhile, had the bases loaded with one out against Rasmussen and walked away empty. That contrast set the tone for a night that belonged to the first-place Rays, who improved to 58-42 in their 100th game of the season.
Yandy Díaz helped frame the inning from the start. In the first at-bat of the game, he saw 12 pitches from Gausman, six of them foul balls, before lining out to center.
Jonathan Aranda followed with a quick out, but the Rays kept the inning alive. Junior Caminero drew the first of his three walks, Cedric Mullins then worked himself into a favorable count before lining a double to right, and Jonny DeLuca followed by driving in both runners with a hit to right on a pitch outside the strike zone.
DeLuca then stole second, Chandler Simpson stayed hot with an RBI single to center after another full count, and Ben Williamson added one more single before Taylor Walls struck out to end a 38-pitch inning.
Rasmussen then had to answer after Toronto put runners on with singles from three of its first four hitters. He did.
With the bases loaded and one out, he got Daulton Varsho to pop out on two pitches. Then he went after Kazuma Okamoto, starting him with a first-pitch cutter for strike one, missing above the zone with a two-seamer, and then getting a swing and miss on the same pitch inside.
Rasmussen finished the sequence by freezing Okamoto with a 91.4 mph cutter.
From there, the right-hander settled in. After a leadoff walk in the second and a one-out single in the fifth, he retired 10 straight batters. He finished with two runs allowed on seven hits and one walk, striking out five over five-plus innings.
The offense kept rolling behind him. Simpson and Williamson each finished with four hits, Nick Fortes homered for the second straight day and drove in four runs, and the bottom five spots in the order combined for 13 hits. Díaz capped the night with a three-run homer in the ninth, coming in his 1,000th Major League game.
In Other News...
Rays Deadline Push For Catching Help Just Took A Familiar Turn
The Rays spent the deadline window looking for catching help, and the search quickly became one of those familiar AL East storylines where a division rival is never far from the conversation. Minnesotas Ryan Jeffers drew interest from Tampa Bay, while the Yankees were in the mix too, turning a straightforward upgrade hunt into a tug-of-war with a team the Rays know all too well.
As the market tightened, Tampa Bays approach appeared to shift toward a broader deadline strategy rather than forcing a deal at any cost. The club moved Danny Jansen to Milwaukee for prospect Jadher Areinamo, a sign the Rays were willing to keep one eye on the future even while exploring ways to stabilize the roster now, leaving the catching picture and the rest of their deadline plans still worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
This Rays Outfield Breakout Could Change Everything At The Deadline
A rough stretch against Boston had the Rays searching for something to steady them, and they got a little relief by snapping a five-game skid with a win over Toronto. Even in a week that included a sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, one of the more encouraging developments has been the emergence of a left-handed bat who arrived from Miami and has given Tampa Bay a needed jolt in the outfield.
The power has been the obvious draw, with a run of homers that has helped him stand out in a lineup still trying to sort itself out before the trade deadline. Just as important for the Rays, he has paired that pop with solid work on the defensive side and enough versatility to make him look like more than a short-term spark, which is why his role in the club's plans keeps getting bigger even as the front office weighs what else needs fixing. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Suddenly Have A Serious Market For One All-Star Bat
The Rays opened the second half with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, a rough reminder that their margin for error is thin even with a starting rotation that still gives them a chance most nights. The bigger issue has been on the other side of the ball, where the lineup has lacked consistency and second base in particular has not provided the kind of offense Tampa Bay expected after moving on from Brandon Lowe over the winter.
That is why the trade market is starting to matter so much for the Rays, with some analysts pointing to San Franciscos Luis Arraez as a name to watch ahead of the deadline. Arraez would fit the kind of contact-oriented profile Tampa Bay tends to value, and his impending free-agent status could keep the price from getting out of hand, but for now it remains one of those possibilities that hangs over the roster until the front office decides whether to act. [Read more 🡒]