ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Rays and Blue Jays engaged in another tense battle Saturday, this time swapping zeroes into the seventh inning.
That’s when Rays manager Kevin Cash took out starter Drew Rasmussen to bring in lefty Brooks Raley, and that’s when Whit Merrifield delivered the shot the Blue Jays needed, hitting a three-run homer.
The 3-1 win moved the Blue Jays (85-67) back ahead of the Rays (84-68) at the top of the three-team American League wild-card field. They have a one-game lead with 10 to play, though the Rays hold the tiebreaker.
The Mariners (82-68) started the day holding the third spot, with the Orioles (79-71) three behind them. Both were playing later on Saturday.
The Blue Jays’ winning rally started when Teoscar Herandez laced a double on Rasmussen’s 88th and final pitch. Raley, the lefty specialist who had a rough Wednesday outing against Houston, walked right-handed pinch-hitter Danny Jansen, then gave up the home run to Merrifield.
The Rays got one back in the eighth when the Jays brought in lefty reliever Tim Mayza. Jose Siri led off with an infield single, and with two outs Randy Arozarena singled up the middle. With Harold Ramirez pinch hitting, the Jays brought in righty Jordan Romano.
Ramirez bounced a ball that shortstop Bo Bichette couldn’t make a play on, then threw high of first. The Rays got one run and had runners on the corners, but Manuel Margot struck out.
Both starters dominated through the early and middle innings.
Toronto’s Alek Manoah held the Rays without a hit into the fourth, when Arozarena laced a double to left-center field, his 40th of the season. Manoah allowed only four over seven innings, throwing 113 pitches.
That made Arozarena the first player in Rays history to have at least 20 homers, 30 steals and 40 doubles in a single season, and the 20th in major league history, first since Mookie Betts in 2018 for Boston.
In driving a ball just over the right-field fence Friday, Arozarena logged his second straight 20-homer/20-steal season, and joined Angels star Mike Trout as the only players to have 20-20 seasons as rookies and the next season.
The Rays got another double in the fifth, by Francisco Mejia, then a Wander Franco single after a one-out Jonathan Aranda walk in the sixth, but couldn’t get anyone home.
Rasmussen was equally dominant against the Jays, allowing three hits as he worked into the seventh. After a catcher’s interference call on Mejia on the fourth pitch of the game, Rasmussen retired 14 of 15, allowing just a leadoff single in the second to Alejandro Kirk.
The sixth got a little messy for Rasmussen with a leadoff double by Merrifield, a walk of No. 9 hitter Jackie Bradley Jr. and a two-out walk of Vlad Guerrero Jr. to load the bases. But he escaped by getting Kirk to ground out.
