Ryan Pepiot threw seven shutout innings, Brandon Lowe went 3-for-4 with a two-run home run and the Tampa Bay Rays rolled to a 13-0 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.
All nine Rays starters got at least one hit as they used a 15-hit attack to finish a three-game sweep over their American League East rivals. Chandler Simpson, Josh Lowe and Junior Caminero each delivered two hits in the Rays’ fifth consecutive victory.
Ben Rortvedt had a season-high three RBIs for Tampa Bay and Curtis Mead added a two-run homer.
Pepiot (3-5) allowed three hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Eric Orze and Cole Sulser came out of the Rays bullpen to allow one hit over the final two innings.
For the second straight game, the Rays jumped ahead in their half of the first. Brandon Lowe’s one-out home run, his 10th of the season, came off Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, the Rays scored seven times while sending 11 batters to the plate. Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe started with singles, and Caminero doubled to score Josh Lowe and chase Bassitt.
Bassitt (4-3) gave up five runs on nine hits over four-plus innings with and two walks and one strikeout.
Simpson added an RBI single off reliever Mason Fluharty to make it 5-0. Rortvedt delivered a two-run single to make it 8-0. Yandy Diaz’s ground-rule double off Paxton Schultz scored Kameron Misner.
The Rays also scored four times in the seventh, highlighted by Mead’s two-run homer in his first at-bat after replacing Brandon Lowe. It was his third of the season.
Infielder Michael Stefanic pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Toronto and got a hit in first at-bat in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
