Terrific start from Robbie Ray, Jays beat Rays

Blue Jays 3 Rays 1

I don’t know about you, but I needed that win. Thank you, Robbie Ray.

Ray was just incredible today. He went 7 innings, allowed 1 hit, 1 walk with 11 strikeouts. And the hit didn’t come until one out in the seventh inning (I blame Minor Leaguer). He was in charge all game, hitting the corners all game long. He came out of the game after 103 pitches, 71 of them strikes.

Tim Mayza pitched a quick eighth on just 8 pitches. I would have been ok with him starting the ninth, but that’s Jordan Romano’s job.

Jordan hasn’t been great lately. First, he gave up a one-out home run which worried me. Then, after a nice catch in foul ground by Espinal, Jordan gave up a single to bring the tying run to the plate, but a pop-out ended the game.

We didn’t do a lot on offense. Just 6 hits, but one of them was a Danny Jansen home run, just his fourth of the season, in the third inning.

The other two scored in the fourth. With one out, Teoscar Hernandez singled, and Lourdes Gurriel walked (his second of the game and 12th of the season. A wild pitch moved them to second and third. Santiago Espinal singled home Teoscar (right after barely dodging a pitch at his legs, which had me telling him to take one for the team). Espinal had 3 of our 6 hits. And Cavan Biggio hit a sac fly. Espinal tagged up to second from first and was almost thrown out, which could have erased the run if the tag came before Lourdes crossed the plate. The throw was there in time for the out but bounced past the second baseman, thankfully.

Vlad’s consecutive game streak of getting on base came to an end.

Jays of the Day: Ray (.362 WPA), and Jansen (.091, for the home run, and he deserves some credit for doing an excellent job with Ray).

Suckage: No one had the number. Vlad had the low mark at -.082.

We get a few days off from the Jays. The next game is Friday, hosting the Rangers. Before that, we have the draft starting tonight, the Future Game is happening right now (Austin Martin isn’t in the starting lineup, you can stream the game here), the Home Run Derby is tomorrow, and the All Star Game Tuesday.

We had 235 comments in the GameThread. I led us to a very needed victory.

Oh, and GO ENGLAND.