Shane McClanahan fired 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the Tampa Bay Rays earned their 10th straight home win by grounding the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 on Wednesday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
McClanahan (4-2) allowed just two hits to stretch his scoreless streak to 16 2/3 innings over the past three starts and drop his ERA to 2.60.
He struck out four and walked one as the Rays swept their six-game homestand over the San Francisco Giants and Blue Jays and moved to 12-1 over the past 13 games with a sixth straight win.
Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson produced RBIs in the fourth inning as Tampa Bay improved to 14-4 in its repaired dome and 16-2 against the American League overall.
Toronto’s Myles Straw went 2-for-3 with a double, but Toronto, on a four-game losing skid, managed only four hits.
Starter Patrick Corbin (1-1) tossed 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and one strikeout.
Tampa Bay shortstop Taylor Walls ended the top of the first inning with a sensational sliding stop deep in the hole and throw to get Lenyn Sosa with Kazuma Okamoto at second after a double.
Corbin’s wildness cost him in the fourth after a one-out walk to Jonathan Aranda. DeLuca followed by slashing a double into the right-center field gap to plate Aranda for a 1-0 lead. Simpson lined a single to right to score DeLuca two batters later.
McClanahan was sharp after allowing Okamoto’s double in the first. The left-hander retired 13 straight hitters until Straw drilled a double off the left-center field wall in the fifth inning.
Kevin Kelly replaced McClanahan after a two-out walk to Okamoto in the sixth brought up Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the reliever induced a deep flyout to left to hold the 2-0 lead.
Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger tossed a wild pitch in the seventh to advance runners to second and third but whiffed Yohendrick Pinango for the final out.
Tampa Bay added an unearned insurance run in the eighth on a throwing error by second baseman Ernie Clement on a double-play ball.
Ian Seymour spun a perfect ninth for his first save.
–Field Level Media
