The Toronto Blue Jays (63-66) defeated the Tampa Bay Rays (76-61) 5-1 on Thursday afternoon at Tropicana Field. With the loss, the Rays dropped the three-game series to the Blue Jays and finished the seven-game homestand 2-5, which had immediately followed a 9-0 West Coast road trip.
The Rays offense struggled to get to Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber (5-2, 4.53) who allowed one earned run on four hits in seven innings of work in which he struck out seven and walked none. Junior Caminero had a RBI single in the fourth inning to give the Rays their only offense of the night. Yandy Diaz also had two hits for the Rays.
Ian Seymour (9-4, 4.17) pitched five innings in the losing effort, allowing three earned runs on six hits while striking out eight and walking one. After Kazuma Okamoto hit a solo homer in the second inning, the Blue Jays added two in the fifth with solo homers from Nathan Lukes and Dax Cameron to take control of the game. George Srpinger added a two-run single in the seventh to make it a 5-1 game, which would prove to be the final score.
The Rays now travel to Baltimore and will begin a three-game series against the Orioles on Friday night. Freddy Peralta (5-10, 5.27) is scheduled to start for the Rays and face Trevor Rodgers (8-8, 4.15) for the Orioles. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 7:15 PM - pregame coverage begins with Ronnie Lane hosting Inside Pitch at 6:00 PM on 95.7 WDAE & AM 620, your Home of Rays Baseball.
COVER PHOTO COURTESY GETTY IMGAES