Toronto 6, Tampa Bay 4
When: 3:10 PM ET, Monday, August 24, 2020
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Randy Rosenberg, 1B -
Marty Foster, 2B -
Sean Barber, 3B -
Todd Tichenor
Attendance:
0
By Field Level Media
Randal Grichuk slugged a three-run homer in the seventh inning as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied to salvage a series split with Tampa Bay in a 6-4 win over the Rays on Monday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
With his club trailing 3-2, Grichuk, who also doubled, pulled a drive over the short fence in left field to give Toronto its first lead in the final game of the four-game series - the only contest not decided by one run.
Toronto starter Tanner Roark tossed a season-high 96 pitches but allowed three runs and six hits in five innings. Thomas Hatch (2-1) hurled two scoreless innings to record both Toronto wins in the series while Jordan Romano (scoreless ninth) notched both saves.
Cavan Biggio was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and an RBI, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered.
Starter Blake Snell (5 2/3 innings, two runs) was in line for his third straight win, but lefty Aaron Loup (3-2) lost for the second time in the series.
Willy Adames (homer, double, two RBIs) and Mike Zunino (two doubles) had two-hit games. Yoshi Tsutsugo homered, walked thrice and scored two runs.
Tsutsugo launched a solo blast - his fourth homer and third against Toronto pitching - to break an 0-for-10 skid in the series, but the home side had two potential runs wiped out.
Joey Wendle tried to score from first on a double by Adames but was thrown out at home for the second out on a relay from shortstop Santiago Espinal.
Adames advanced to third and then appeared to make it 2-0 when Kevin Kiermaier beat Roark to first on a throw from first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. However, Toronto challenged the safe call, and replays overturned the decision to end the frame.
Guerrero evened it 1-1 by lashing a two-out double off the left field wall in the third, but Adames shot a two-run, opposite-field homer that banged off the foul pole for his third long ball and a 3-1 lead an inning later.
In the sixth, Gurriel hit Snell's 94 mph fastball just out to left for a solo shot, and the Rays turned to the bullpen to protect the one-run lead.
Grichuk's seventh homer off Loup came after Espinal walked and Biggio reached base on catcher's interference.
The Rays had an unearned run in the eighth on Espinal's throwing error, but Biggio doubled in an unearned run in the ninth.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Toronto |
|
Tampa Bay |
Tanner Roark
|
Player |
Blake Snell
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
5.0 |
IP |
5.2 |
2 |
Strikeouts |
9 |
6 |
Hits |
4 |
5.40 |
ERA |
3.18 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Toronto
|
7 |
2 |
16 |
.206 |
11 |
10 |
6 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
Tampa Bay
|
8 |
2 |
17 |
.258 |
22 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
0 |
2 |