Rays Bomb Blue Jays 13-0, Complete Sweep For Fifth Straight Win

TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay pitcher Ryan Pepiot was really good Sunday, throwing seven scoreless innings, so the Rays offense didn't really have to do a lot.

They did anyway.

The Rays pounded the Toronto Blue 13-0 Sunday at Steinbrenner Field, completing a series sweep and winning their fifth game in a row, getting them back to .500 at 26-26 and into second place in the American League East. Toronto only scored twice all weekend long, with the Rays outscoring them 19-2.

For a team down in the dumps earlier this week, they're suddenly feeling really good about themselves, getting great pitching, playing stellar defense and going to town at the plate. They had 15 hits on the day, and batted around in the fifth inning without making an out.

It was a laugher in every sense of the word. Toronto starter Chris Bassitt, who gave the Rays fits last week, got chased in the fifth inning and the Rays hammered the Toronto bullpen.

"We had some opportunities early to separate the game, and the early runs drove his pitch count up,'' Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Bassitt. "We're playing really good defense and (Pepiot) was really efficient. It was hot out there, and he handled it well. It was really impressive.

"We're feeling really good about how we're playing. Against Houston, things were not going our way but we found a way to win a game (on Tuesday) and we've built some momentum from there. I'm happy for the guys. We had a lot of big hits.''

Pepiot hasn't gotten a lot of run support, but that wasn't an issue on Sunday. It started with Brandon Lowe in the first inning when he hit a two-run homer to right-center, driving in Josh Lowe, who had a one-out single. That was Lowe's team-leading 10th homer on the season.

Staked with a lead, Pepiot pounded the strike zone all day long. He pitched seven innings on just 91 pitches, and allowed just three hits. It was the first time he had pitched seven innings since Sept. 7, 2023 in a 10-0 win at Miami, tying his career high.

"The guys behind me made a lot of unbelievable plays and it was an overall team win,'' Pepiot said. "We talk about it a lot, playing all three facets of the game, and today we put it all together at once. It was a lot of fun to watch. We gave up, what, two runs the whole series? You can't ask for any more than that.''

The Rays blew the game open in a crazy fifth inning, scoring seven runs. The first nine hitters all reached base without an out being recorded, only the second time in franchise history that that's happened. (The first was June 25, 2008 against the Marlins.)

Josh Lowe got the rally started with a single, and Brandon Lowe followed with one of his own. Junior Caminero doubled to right, scoring a run. Jonathan Aranda drove in a run and then Chandler Simpson made it 5-0 with an RBI single.

Taylor Walls singled to right to load the bases, and then Kameron Misner walked, making it 6-0. Then catcher Ben Rortvedt, who came into the game hitting .088, singled to right field, driving in two runs. Yandy Diaz then doubled to score Misner, making it 9-0.

"You get an inning like that going and everybody's running to the bat rack,'' said Rortvedt, who drove in another run the seventh inning. His three RBIs on Sunday matched his season total. "It feels really good. I've been working my butt off, but it hasn't been an easy start to the season for me. Seeing some fall feels great, and feeling all the support from my teammates meant a lot, too.

"It's a really good feeling when things are going your way. It moves fast. It feels good when guys are turning the lineup over, and there's a lot of high fives in the dugout.''

The Rays had four guys with multiple RBIs — Rortvedt, Diaz, Brandon Lowe, and Curtis Mead, who hit his third home run in as many games in the four-run seventh. Four guys had two hits or more and the Rays played their sixth straight game without an error.

The Rays are now 5-1 on this homestand and 16-18 at home, a drastic improvement considering they had a 3-13 stretch before this five-game run.

"This could be a strong homestand for us,'' Cash said. "I think our guys are feeling better about themselves than they did a week ago.

"We all want to continue playing well here. We knew at the beginning of the season that it could take some time, and we certainly could have played better. I'm really pleased with what we've done lately.''

The homestand continues on Monday night, when the Rays take on the Minnesota Twins. Gametime is 7:05 p.m. ET. Zach Littell (3-5, 4.25) will pitch for the Rays, with Chris Paddack (2-4, 3.98 ERA) pitching for the Twins, who are managed by former Tampa Bay star Rocco Baldelli.

The Twins are 29-23 on the season, but they are 16-3 since May 3 and had a 13-game winning streak. They are in second place in the American League Central, four games behind the Detroit Tigers.

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