Tonight’s game was a story that was all too well felt. A few big swings asked for some hope to create some hope, a bad throw from the starter who erased, and then an attack that spent the rest of the night looking for another acceleration that it never found.
The Blue Jays first came on the board. George Springer smoked a double in the bottom of the first and Nathan Lukes stuck a single just past Carson Williams at Shortstop to get him and give the Blue Joys an early 1-0 lead. Adrian Houser brought a double play from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. About to stop bleeding.
Then the young rays changed the script. Junior Caminero distracted the second and turned a Shane Bieber -Fastball into a laser show, a line drive to the right that undoubtedly had the left in second place. It was his 45th Homer of the Year and he made it look effortless. Six throws later in the next battle, Jonathan Aranda launched one to the right field, and it just continued until it landed in the bullpen. Back-to-back, bang and suddenly the rays were life. At the moment the rays have turned the game around. Jake Mangum added a single, but then Shane Bieber retired three in a row to get out of the collection.
Then Toronto reminded them that the momentum is fragile. Dulton Varsho doubled in the bottom half, and Ernie Clement Bond with a broken Bat-Bloop single to the right. Just like that, it’s a 2-2 game.
From there, both starters are locked up and threw them as veterans. Bieber was bent but did not break, runners in the fourth and fifth. Houser also found his groove, usually worked soft contact and grounders, until the competition tipped at one pitch in the bottom of the fifth.
After Springer had closed a single, Houser came behind Nathan Lukes with 0-1 and threw a change that remained just enough over the record. Lukes, the Minor League of the former Rays, loaded it and sent it to the right to the right for a two-run Homer. Toronto up 4-2, Rogers Center Alive, and the rays suddenly back in the hole.
The night of the houser was not bad. Six innings, seven hits, four points, five strikeouts and two walks. He competed, he got ground balls and he paid a lot for one mistake. Bieber was also sharp with five innings with only the two gayers given up, and that was enough to give the Bullpen van Toronto the ball with the lead.
Then the Tampa Bay attack was largely in the night in the night. They had sprinkled a few baserunners in it, but not much else. Mason Fluhary cut the sixth with two strikeouts, Giménez made a sliding grip to take a bloop away, and against the seventh it already felt like the rays needed something to break through.
Their chance came in the eighth. Caminero crashed and went on a wild throw. Aranda ran, Richie Palacios Pinch-Ran, Christopher Morel Pinch hit and the stage was set for one big swing. Instead, Morel lifted a routine fly to the right. Lukes, because of course it said.
That set up the ninth, that drama teased but ended in the same way as so many of these nights. Josh Lowe ran. Hunter Feduccia ran. Suddenly the rays had two, one out, and Chandler Simpson chopped his way to an Infield power that at least kept the inning alive. Then Simpson Stal Second, his 44th, and Yandy Díaz came up with the equal runs in Score position. If you write a Rays script, this feels like the scenario you want with Diaz in his first game in Toronto since May 2024, partly due to passport issues. Jeff Hoffman didn’t care. He let Díaz one to third roles, Ernie Clement Field it neat, and that was the ball game.
Two more games left before the Rays can be officially placed in the reversing view this season. Tomorrow these teams will be confronted with a halfway through the afternoon at 7:07 pm with RHP Joe Boyle (1-3, 4.40) planned to take the hill for the rays opposite RHP Trey Yesavage (0-0, 5.00) for the Blue Jays.
Hopefully this season can go out with a bang instead of a bubbling.
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