Well, the pitching wasn’t good, but 13 runs on offence is something to be happy about, and a win is a win.
The Jays got on the board in the first. Daulton Varsho and Davis Schneider hit back to back doubles to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
They got another run in the second. Addison Barger singled and Leo Jimenez and Riley Tirotta walked to load the bases. Varsho hit a ball that first baseman Jonathan Aranda misplayed, allowing him to reach and one runner to cross.
Alan Roden and Tyler Heineman managed singles in the third, but were stranded. The fourth was a quiet 1-2-3 inning.
Meanwhile, Jose Berrios wasn’t his best. He worked around a walk and a single in the first and posted a 1-2-3 second, but a single, walk and home run jumped Tampa Bay in front 3-2 in the third. The Rays managed two more singles in the inning but he was able to prevent them from coming home. The fourth was better, another 1-2-3 inning, and included his only strikeout on the day.
The fifth was quiet on both sides. Josh Walker sat the Rays down in order.
The offence retook the lead in the sixth. Barger singled, advanced on a grounder out, and scored on a hit by Steward Berroa. Berroa himself came in on Will Wagner double, and Varsho tripled to cash Wagner, making it 5-3.
Walker allowed the Rays to tie it up in the bottom half, though, on a single and a home run. Zach Pop got the last two outs of that inning and returned for the seventh, when he gave up the go-ahead run on a single and a double.
The Jays recaptured the lead for good in the eighth. Two run homers by Will Robertson and Jay Harry made it 9-6, and a two base throwing error by Rays’ second baseman Jamie Westbrook with the bases loaded ran the Jays’ total to 11. Damiano Palmegiani added another (solo) homer in the ninth, and a walk, hit by pitch, and another throwing error by Westbrook made it 13-6. Lazaro Estrada (who had worked a clean eighth) gave up three in the bottom of the ninth to give it a semblance of drama, but that was as close as the Rays would get.
It’s Houston tomorrow, at TD Ballpark. Kevin Gausman will go for Toronto, up against Colton Gordon.