TORONTO – Christian Bethancourt’s three-run homer help lift the Tampa Bay Rays over the Toronto Blue Jays 8-1 on Sunday.
Josh Lowe drove in three runs with a single and a double for Tampa Bay (14-2), which already has a four-game lead over the Blue Jays in the American League East standings. Vidal Bruján added an RBI single in the ninth.
Shane McClanahan (4-0) had a quality start, striking out six and allowing just one run over six innings of work.
Colin Poche, Garrett Cleavinger and Jason Adam preserved McClanahan’s solid work, not allowing a run the rest of the way.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had an RBI single in the first inning as Toronto (10-6) came up short on its bid to sweep the Rays.
Alek Manoah (1-1) struggled through 4 2/3 innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits and four walks although he struck out five.
Zach Pop of Brampton, Ont., Tim Mayza, Trevor Richards and Anthony Bass came on in relief, with only Bass surrendering a run.
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Manoah struggled with his command from the very first pitch of the afternoon, hitting Rays leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz. He then walked Brandon Lowe, gave up a single to Harold Ramirez and a walk to Wander Franco for the Rays’ first run of the game.
He recovered with back-to-back strikeouts before Josh Lowe singled to shallow centre field to score Brandon Lowe and Ramirez for a 3-0 lead.
Guerrero replied for Toronto in the bottom of the inning, sending a line drive to right-centre to bring home George Springer to the delight of the Rogers Centre crowd of 39,179.
Manoah settled in after that, pitching three scoreless innings, including back-to-back strikeouts in the fifth. But then the burly right-hander started to unravel again, issuing a two-out walk to Taylor Walls, who scored when Josh Lowe hit a double to deep right-centre field in the next at bat.
Bethancourt followed that up with his third home run of the season, launching the ball to deep left field to score Josh Lowe and Bruján for a 7-1 Tampa lead. Manoah faced one more hitter before Pop came on in relief.
Manoah’s earned-run average ballooned to 6.98 after the loss, a far cry from last year’s all-star season when he had a 2.23 ERA and finished third in Cy Young voting as the American League’s best pitcher.
Toronto’s bullpen didn’t allow any more runs until the ninth inning when Bruján’s single to left field gave Walls ample time to run home.
Adam made a highlight-reel play to end the game, catching a liner from Blue Jays centre-fielder Kevin Kiermaier then throwing to second to tag out Santiago Espinal for the surprise double play.
TORONTO SIX — Breanne Wilson-Bennett, a forward with the Premier Hockey Federation’s Toronto Six, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. She was accompanied by the Isobel Cup, the PHF’s championship, which Toronto won March 29 with a 4-3 overtime victory against the Minnesota Whitecaps.
ON DECK — The Blue Jays hit the road, travelling to Houston for a three-game set.
Kevin Gausman (1-1) will get the start for Toronto and the Astros will counter with Cristian Javier (1-0).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
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