Ben Williamson singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning as the Tampa Bay Rays stayed hot with their 11th win in 12 games, rallying past the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Holding a 3-2 lead through six innings, the Blue Jays turned to their bullpen, but the Rays took their first lead with four consecutive hits, including RBI singles by Yandy Diaz and Williamson, against Tyler Rogers (1-2) in the two-run eighth.
Casey Legumina (1-1) recorded his first victory with the Rays, and Cole Sulser posted his second save with a perfect ninth.
Williamson finished with two hits, while Chandler Simpson had two plus a run and stolen base. Jake Fraley produced two singles and scored.
Jonathan Aranda went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. The lefty hitter is 11-for-17 in the past four games.
Starter Drew Rasmussen went six innings and watched three runs come across on seven hits. He fanned five and walked one.
Toronto’s Kazuma Okamoto was 2-for-4 with a solo homer, and Andres Gimenez had two hits, a run, an RBI and a stolen base.
Out of the lineup the past two games, George Springer returned and went 0-for-4 with a walk.
Starting pitcher Kevin Gausman tossed six innings and allowed two runs on six hits. He struck out three and walked one.
In the first inning, Okamoto put Toronto ahead for the first time in the series with a solo shot to right-center field for his 10th home run, a 409-footer.
The visitors added another tally in the next frame when they put together three consecutive singles, the third an RBI hit through the middle by Gimenez that scored Daulton Varsho.
With two outs and none on in the third, the Rays got a hit and stolen base from Simpson and Junior Caminero’s walk before Aranda grounded an RBI single to cut the lead in half.
In another long inning against Gausman in the fourth, the Rays got singles from Fraley and Williamson and a fielding error by Gausman to load the bases before a double-play grounder plated Fraley with the tying run.
Toronto broke the tie in the fifth when Gimenez singled, stole second base and raced home on a single by Yohendrick Pinango.
–Field Level Media
