Full steam ahead: Rays go 7-for-7 in stolen bases to beat Blue Jays
ST. PETERSBURG — You can’t give good groups further outs. The Rays, who personal the perfect file within the Majors, supplied proof of that baseball adage on Thursday afternoon.
With a few of its greatest baserunning of the season, Tampa Bay made the Blue Jays pay for his or her errors and rolled to a 6-3 win at Tropicana Field.
The dwelling staff most likely shouldn’t have scored a couple of run within the backside of the primary after a Wander Franco triple and an RBI single by Randy Arozarena with one out tied the rating at 1-1. Brandon Lowe adopted by whiffing on a pitch within the dust, which ought to have been the second out of the body. But as an alternative of giving up, Lowe took off for first because the ball skidded away from Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk.
Lowe’s hustle paid off because the ball spun again towards the first-base line and as soon as Kirk fielded it alongside the chalk, his throw to the bag was late.
Harold Ramírez’s sharp grounder to second may have nonetheless been an inning-ending double play, however the ball was bobbled by Cavan Biggio, and Ramírez legged out the throw to first with a dash pace of 29.2 toes per second — tied for his second-fastest mark of the season — which allowed Arozarena to return dwelling on a fielder’s selection.
The Rays then terrorized Kirk and Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah within the third inning by nabbing three steals that led to 2 extra runs. Tampa Bay, which leads the Majors with 62 steals, stole seven luggage in a sport for the second time this season. The membership additionally achieved that feat on May 17 towards the Mets. No different staff within the massive leagues has stolen that many bases in a sport in 2023.
Starting pitcher Zach Eflin cruised after giving up a run within the prime of the primary, scattering six hits and two walks over seven robust innings.
The Rays took three of 4 video games on this sequence towards the Blue Jays, whom they gained’t see once more till they play six occasions over the ultimate 10 days of the common season.
Next up for the Rays is a three-game sequence at dwelling vs. the Dodgers. The two powerhouses haven’t met because the 2020 World Series, by which L.A. prevailed in six video games.
