JAYS STING RAYS WITH HUGE COMEBACK
Smoak’s walk-off homer seals the deal as Blue Jays rally with seven runs to shock Rays,
The Blue Jays mounted a most unlikely seven-run rally in the bottom of the ninth at the Rogers Centre on Thursday to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-8.
The Jays tied the game on a two-run homer by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and a walk-off blast by Justin Smoak. Both homers came against veteran Rays veteran closer Sergio Romo. Jays rookie David Paulino picked up his first win.
The Jays’ Rowdy Tellez, who homered earlier in the second inning to open the scoring against Rays opener Ryne Stanek, continued his impressive streak of extra base hits, adding a ninth-inning RBI double, giving him eight doubles and two homers in his first 14 games.
In coming from behind, the Jays sent six straight Triple-A Buffalo Bisons prospects to the plate, highlighted by a threerun homer by catcher Danny Jansen that pulled the Jays to within two runs, prompting the Rays to bring in Romo.
With two out, pinch-hitter Kendrys Morales looped a single to centre, setting up the Gurriel homer.
The Blue Jays don’t match up against the Red Sox or Yankees in the AL East in terms of talent, nor can they ever seem to solve the unusual pitching strategies and athleticism of the Rays — until this night.
For a number of old-school baseball fans, the way manager Kevin Cash runs his Rays pitching eliminates traditional baseball discussion. There are no one-on-one pitching duels to argue because other than Cy Young candidate Blake Snell, the Rays with Cash’s idea of pitching is to have an opener and a closer with bullpen arms in between. The Rays are winning games but are sucking some joy out of the game in the process.
“I tip my hat to them,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said, disagreeing.
“They’ve got some good young players, good pitching. It’s pretty impressive. You look at the position players they’ve got some good young hitters. Almost all of them can run. Good defensive team and they’ve got some big arms. A lot of good arms in the bullpen, then of course you’ve got Snell. I’m a big fan of Kevin Cash over there.”
Stanek pitched one inning plus three batters, throwing a total of 17 pitches, allowing a two-run homer to rookie first- baseman Rowdy Tellez.
Stanek may have been bothered by an extra long delay between innings in the middle of the second as three of the umpires went to the room to change into their late-arriving gear. When the inning started he allowed a double to Randal Grichuk, a homer and a Pillar single. Then he was gone.
For the Jays it was right-hander Sam Gaviglio making his 22nd start of the season. For some reason his record in Canada is far superior to his performance on the road. In 11 starts away from Rogers Centre, the 28-year-old native of Oregon has a1-6 record, with a 7.91ERA.
At home, he is now 2-2, 3.22 ERA.