Meet the Opponent: Blue Jays On a Roll Again Heading Into Showdown With Rays
In this story:
TAMPA, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays hosted the Tampa Bay Rays in a series just 10 days ago, and they rolled into the meeting fresh off a sweep of the first-place Seattle Mariners. The Rays wound up winning two of three anyway.
The same scenario is in play this weekend. The Blue Jays and Rays get together again for three games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, and the Jays are on a roll again, having just swept the San Diego Padres. The Rays seem to keep getting Toronto at its best.
Toronto is back over .500 now at 25-24. The Jays are in second place in the American League East, five games behind the New York Yankees. The Rays, after taking the final two games in their series against Houston, sit at 23-26 heading into game No. 50 on Friday night.
Here are the pitching matchups for the series:
- FRIDAY NIGHT (7:05 p.m. ET): Toronto's Eric Lauer (1-0, 2.25 ERA) vs. Tampa Bay's Drew Rasmussen (2-4, 2.93 ERA).
- SATURDAY NIGHT (7:05 p.m. ET): Toronto's Jose Berrios (1-1, 4.19 ERA) vs. Tampa Bay's Shane Baz (3-3, 5.33 ERA).
- SUNDAY AFTERNOON (1:40 p.m. ET): Toronto's Chris Bassitt (4-2, 2.83 ERA) vs. Tampa Bay's Ryan Pepiot (2-5, 3.99 ERA).
Here are three things to know about the Blue Jays heading into the series. It's the second of four series between the AL East rivals. They'll meet again in Tampa for four games on Sept. 15-18 and will close out the season with three games in Toronto on Sept. 26-28.
1. Jays' pitching starting to dominate
Before closing out its sweep on San Diego with a 7-6 win in 11 innings on Thursday, the Blue Jays had allowed just three runs in its previous five victories.
Chris Bassitt, who will pitch Sunday, was involved in two of those starts, holding the Rays to one run in 5 2/3 innings and pitching six scoreless against the Padres, allowing just four hits. The next day, Kevin Gausman pitched seven scoreless, with just three hits.
The Rays will miss Gausman this series, and they'll have an interesting challenge with left-hander Eric Lauer starting for the Jays. He's only pitched 12 innings so far in four appearances, so no one is sure how long he'll go, but the Rays have struggled against left-handers this year. They've been shut out six times this season — and lefties started all six games.
2. Jays' bats heating up
Toronto scored 24 runs against the Padres' vaunted pitching staff earlier this week. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santandar homered in Tuesday's 3-0 win, and the Jays had 14 hits the next day in a 14-0 blowout. Three guys — Bo Bichette, Addison Barger and Nathan Lucas — had multiple hits and Daulton Varsho drove in four runs.
They had 12 more hits Thursday, with four players having multiple hits. What was impressive during the series sweep was that they got production throughout the order, from top to bottom. Rays' pitchers won't have any soft spots in their order to catch their breath.
3. Familiarity helps vs. rivals
Tampa Bay plays everyone in their division 13 times, which is down from 19 a few years ago. There are no surprises when it comes to playing their rivals, so it's all about going best on best, and whoever makes the best pitches wins.
The Blue Jays and Rays are both very familiar with each other, and having just played May 13-15 just adds to that familiarity.
"It's a lineup that we know a lot about and we play a lot,'' Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen said. "There are no secrets, and at the end of the day it comes down to execution.
"In division, we play them so much over the course of the year, so I don't think it favors one thing over the other. There's not a whole lot of unknowns, so whoever executes best will win.''
Related Rays stories
- TAYLOR WALLS ON MENTAL HEALTH: Goat one night, hero the next. Playing baseball at the highest level brings out the highs and lows on a daily basis, and the mental toll it takes on players is very real. Rays shortstop Taylor Walls talked about his mental health battles after his walk-off win Tuesday against the Houston Astros. CLICK HERE
- RAYS POUND BROWN, ASTROS: The Tampa Bay Rays hit four home runs, including back-to-back shots from Josh Lowe and Brandon Lowe for the first time, beating Houston Astros ace Hunter Brown 8-4 on Wednesday. It was their second straight win. CLICK HERE
- RAYS WALK IT OFF (Tuesday): The Tampa Bay Rays did nothing for seven innings Tuesday, and it looked like another shutout loss to a left-handed pitcher. But a double steal followed by a Jonathan Aranda single tied the game, and Taylor Walls won it in the ninth with a sacrifice fly. CLICK HERE
- TOM BREW COLUMN: The American League East has the worst division record in baseball this year, which is very rare. Despite that, the Tampa Bay Rays are five games under .500 and wasting a golden opportunity to have a big season. CLICK HERE
- RAYS LOSE OPENER TO ASTROS (Monday): Tampa Bay rallied from a three-run deficit Monday night against the Houston Astros, but lost 4-3 on Jake Meyers' solo home run in the seventh inning. The 21-26 Rays are now a season-low five games under .500. CLICK HERE
Tom Brew is the publisher of ''Tampa Bay Rays on SI'' and has been with the Sports Illustrated platform since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers, including the Tampa Bay Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He owns eight sites on the "On SI'' network and has written four books.
Follow tombrewsports