[Art Deco]

Game 1: Well it wasn't another 15-2 rout at Rogers Centre. In fact it was 2-2 going into the 9th, but the Rays pulled out a 4-2 win to extend their winning streak to 8 games. The difference this time was that the Jays threw a lefty (Matthew Boyd) at the Rays and he kept them largely in check, allowing only an Alec Bohm RBI single in the 2nd and Nick Schnell's 13th HR (2-3 with a walk today, breaking out of his schlump) through 8 innings. Meanwhile Walker Buehler turned in 7 fine innings, going 7 5 2 2 1 9, allowing 2 runs in the 6th with a Vlad Jr RBI double the key hit there. This set us up for the 9th, when Keibert Ruiz reached on an error by Jays 1B Ryan Noda and Keston Hiura delivered an RBI triple off Nate Pearson to give the Rays the lead, and then Hiura scored on a Pearson wild pitch. With 3 of the first 4 batters lefties for Toronto in the 9th, Jose Alvarado got the call for the save and nailed it with a 1-2-3 inning for his 3rd of the season. Mitch Keller had pitched the 8th and picked up his 3rd win. One scare, though: Wander Franco had to leave the game in the 3rd inning and with the only other middle infielder being Hiura we had to give up the DH so Keston could play 2nd with Brujan sliding over to SS. Wander's injury is only a 4-day knee contusion so no biggie there but Buehler got to bat once and grounded out.

Game 2: Things went back to normal for the Rays at Rogers Centre today as they clubbed the Jays 13-5. Most of the damage was done at the top of the order where Vidal Brujan was 4-6 with 3 doubles and 2 RBI, and Keston Hiura was 4-5 with a HR and 3 RBI. Austin Meadows drove in 3, Rafael Devers was 3-5 with a pair of RBIs and everyone in the lineup had at least one hit. But it didn't start off easy. Although the Rays scored a run in the top of the first, Matt Manning was greeted rudely by Toronto as the first four batters reached and scored, with a 2-run double by Vlad Jr followed by a 2-run HR from Willie Calhoun. But Manning settled down from there and gave the Jays nothing the rest of the way, going 7 7 4 4 2 6 and ending his evening with a whiff of Vlad Jr. Meanwhile the offense turned a 4-2 deficit to a 7-4 lead in the top of the fourth and added four more in the 7th to cap the scoring. DL Hall (a run allowed on 2 hits and a walk) and Sandy Gaston (a scoreless inning but somehow without a strikeout) finished up as the Rays made it 9 straight wins.

Game 3: Daniel Lynch couldn't keep the ball in the park, and thanks to 4 Toronto HRs the Rays' 9-game winning streak was snapped as the Blue Jays beat them for only the second time in 13 tries this year, 7-4. Cavan Biggio's 2nd HR of the game in the 6th, a 2-run shot, broke a 4-4 tie and the Rays couldn't come back against Simeon Woods Richardson (who went a respectable 7 8 4 4 0 7 to get the win), Keith Ginkel and Nate Pearson. It looked like more of the same in the first inning when Vidal Brujan singled, Keston Hiura tripled, and Austin Meadows hit #27 to make it 3-0 before Richardson could record an out, and Keibert Ruiz singled in Meadows who had doubled in the 4th to make it 4-1. But the HR barrage off Lynch came, Alejandro Kirk and Randal Grichuk went back-to-back after Biggio had homered in the 2nd, and he ended up a rare non-quality start going 6 10 6 6 1 4. Mitchell Verburg gave up another run in the 8th to make it 7-4.

Game 4: The Blue Jays salvaged a split of the series with a walk-off 4-3 win against a makeshift Rays lineup. With Wander Franco on the last day of his injury and Austin Meadows and Rafael Devers both in need of a rest, the bench was emptied today and although like yesterday they jumped out to a first-inning lead, they couldn't hold it and couldn't do much more after that. Vidal Brujan was hit by a pitch and stole second leading off the game, and Keston Hiura singled him home, and Hiura after stealing second as well was singled home by Alec Bohm. Hiura and Bohm combined in the 3rd to make it 3-0 on a double and a sac fly, but that was all for the Rays offense. Meanwhile Asa Lacy had his ups and downs but made it through 7, going 7 9 3 3 1 4 and allowing a Randal Grichuk homer. Nick Anderson pitched a perfect 8th, and Jose Alvarado got the first two lefties out in the 9th, but righty pinch-hitter Sheldon Neuse singled and Alvarado stayed in to pitch to the righty Grichuk which backfired when he sent a double into the LF corner to score Neuse and win the game. Other than Hiura's 3-5, 2-run, 1-RBI day and Bohm's 2 RBI, Seth Beer was on base all four times with a pair of singles and a pair of walks but fill-ins Triston Casas and Heston Kjerstad remained cold, both with 0-fers and seeing their BAs drop to .206 and .218 respectively.

Team record: 81-42. Next up: Back to the Trop to face Seattle for a 3-game weekend series.