The Toronto Blue Jays looked to take two of three against the Tampa Bay Rays, but they were stopped dead in their tracks by a masterful performance on the mound.
The Blue Jays sent Chris Bassitt (8-8, 3.71) to take on Taj Bradley (5-4, 2.63) for the Rays. Bassitt was solid, letting up three runs on five hits, over five innings, walking one and striking out six to take his ninth loss of the year. Bradley on the other hand, was spectacular, throwing six innings, allowing two hits, no runs, walking one and punching out seven, taking his sixth victory of the year. Bradley has been on a roll lately, allowing just five runs over his last nine starts (55 innings) and earning wins in four of his last five.
With the bats, this was certainly a night the Blue Jays would like to forget, mustering only two hits the entire game. The Rays on the other hand, exploded, putting up 13 runs, over 16 hits. Brandon Lowe had a performance to remember, going 4 for 4 with three RBIs, homering once, walking twice and coming up a triple shy of the cycle.
Onto the scoring, the Rays struck early in the top of the 1st. Brandon Lowe sent a ball into the upper deck with a solo shot, giving Tampa an early 1-0 lead.
The Tampa Bay lead would stretch in the top of the 3rd after Lowe and Isaac Paredes both drove in runs with RBI doubles, making it 3-0.
The Rays wouldn’t score again until the top of the 6th. Paredes and Alex Jackson would both drive in two runs each with RBI singles to give Tampa a 7-0 lead.
Tampa would pile on more runs in the next inning. Jackson doubled to make it 8-0, Paredes would draw a bases loaded walk, extending the lead to 9-0. Singles by Brandon and Josh Lowe, along with a Randy Arozarena sac fly in between would give the Rays a 12-0 lead.
Josh Lowe would drive in one more run in the top of the 9th with a groundout.
The Blue Jays’ offence would stay quiet the whole game as they fell to the Rays by a final score of 13-0. The Jays will start another three game series at home, as they get ready to host the Texas Rangers. Yusei Kikuchi (4-9, 4.54) will take the ball against Andrew Heaney (4-10, 3.60) for game one on Friday night.
