TORONTO (AP) — Taylor Walls put the Rays ahead with an RBI single in the 10th inning and later scored on Jonathan Aranda’s sacrifice fly, and Tampa Bay held on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 on Tuesday night for its 16th win in 18 games.
Walls drove in automatic runner Cedric Mullins with a hit through a drawn-in infield against Braydon Fisher (2-1) to make it 6-5. Aranda’s fly ball to center gave the Rays a two-run cushion that held up after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half against Garrett Cleavinger, who picked up his first save.
Ian Seymour (2-0) got four outs for the win.
Ryan Vilade hit his second homer and Mullins drove in a pair as the AL-best Rays (28-13) won their sixth straight series.
Toronto erased a 5-0 deficit against a trio of Rays relievers in the seventh.
Pinch-hitter Jesús Sánchez chased Casey Legumina with an RBI double and George Springer hit an RBI single against Cole Sulser before Yohendrick Piñango followed with a two-run double. Kevin Kelly came on to face Guerrero, whose infield chopper bounced off third baseman Junior Caminero’s glove for an error that brought home the tying run.
Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan struck out seven and allowed one hit in five shutout innings, extending his scoreless streak to 21 2/3.
Walls scored in the sixth on a wild pitch by Tommy Nance that struck plate umpire Chris Segal in the knee before bouncing away. Segal went down in pain and received attention from Toronto’s trainer but remained in the game.
In the fourth, Blue Jays second baseman Lenyn Sosa slid into the legs of umpire Laz Diaz while chasing Aranda’s ground ball single. Diaz stayed on his feet.
Up next
Blue Jays RHP Dylan Cease (3-1, 2.58 ERA) is set to start against Rays RHP Griffin Jax (1-2, 5.00) on Wednesday.
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