TORONTO — What started out as a good day for the Rays ended badly with a 7-2 loss Tuesday night and a split of their doubleheader with the Blue Jays.
The Rays won the opener 4-2, and led the nightcap 2-1 in the seventh inning before the Jays rallied for four runs off reliever Colin Poche.
The split left the Rays 79-62 and back where they started the long day, just behind the Blue Jays, and possibly the Mariners pending their late result, in the three-team American League wild-card race.
The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the third inning of the nightcap on a leadoff homer by Ji-Man Choi, ending a six-game homerless streak for the team (longest since 2013), and his first since Aug. 26.
The Jays tied it in the sixth, when a slow roller by Alejandro Kirk scored Vlad Guerrero, who led off with a double.
The Rays went right back ahead on a homer by rookie Jonathan Aranda, first of his career. Both homers came off Jays ace Alek Manoah, who was scratched from the Game 1 start due to a stomach bug but recovered enough to pitch the nightcap.
But the game changed quickly in the seventh as Poche made quite a mess, turning the 2-1 lead into a 5-2 deficit.
He walked two of the first three batters, with a strikeout and two wild pitches in between, putting runners on first and third. He gave up a first pitch double to Whit Merrifield that scored two. Then two pitches later a two-run homer to George Springer.
With the Rays trailing, 31-year-old reliever Kevin Herget made his major-league debut, working 1 2/3 innings. Herget had been up for four days in August but didn’t get to pitch.
The Rays were resourceful in winning the opener, scoring three times on outs and a fourth on a mad dash from first to home by Randy Arozarena.
“Sometimes he’s his own third base coach and manager, and he (thinks he’s) invisible,” manager Kevin Cash said of Arozarena. “It better work.”
Pitching also was a key to the victory.
Jeffrey Springs delivered a strong start with six shutout innings , extending his scoreless streak to 16 2/3 innings and logging a career-high 19 swing-and-misses. Shawn Armstrong got five outs but gave up two runs in the eighth. And Pete Fairbanks survived a tense ninth, striking out Vlad Guerrero Jr. with two on and then prevailing in what Cash called an “epic” 11-pitch battle with red-hot Bo Bichette to seal the win.
“I’m trying to attack in the strike zone for as long as I can,” Fairbanks said. “And then either one of us is going to win it eventually. And today that was us getting a ground out to get out of it.”
But it was Arozarena who got them off and running. Most memorably in the third inning, with the Rays up 3-0.
Having been foiled twice trying for his 30th steal with interference called on Manuel Margot for hitting catcher Danny Jansen with his back swing, Arozarena was in motion again when Margot singled softly to leftfield.
Instead of just going from first to third, he made a daring decision to try to score, and did, helped by Jays leftfielder Teoscar Hernandez playing the ball casually, then making a very high throw home. To further sell the plan, Arozarena initially slowed on his way to third, then sped up.
“When I (broke to) second on that play, I saw where the ball was. It was in leftfield, so on my way to third, normally the play there would be the (leftfielder) would throw it to second base to hold the guy from first,” Arozarena said via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “So as I had that in my mind, I decided to just keep on going.”
Third base coach Rodney Linares was pointing at second to let Arozarena know that’s where the ball was going, but he didn’t notice. “I was just kind of imagining it myself,” Arozarena said. “I was just kind of thinking that’s going to be the situation, and I was able to score.”
Arozarena, at times, can be reckless on the bases, having run into 12 outs, third most in the majors. His Rays mates raved about this play.
“It was incredible,” Fairbanks said. “I mean, he’s got a habit — at times, to his detriment — but he will turn nothing into something, and when it happens it’s fascinating to watch.”
Added Springs: “It’s surprising — but then, it’s not surprising. He plays so hard, so wide open, and he’s got a good baseball IQ, so he picks and chooses his moments. But it was pretty cool.”
Arozarena’s hustle also helped in the first. With one out and runners on the corners, he grounded to third, but ran hard and prevented Toronto from completing a double play, allowing the first run to score. The Rays added two others on productive outs.
