Rays battle back, tie Blue Jays atop wild-card field

ST. PETERSBURG — Friday’s win was impressive enough, as the Rays battled back after letting two leads get away to beat the Blue Jays 10-6.

But there were some added benefits, as the win clinched the season series for the Rays, giving them the edge for postseason positioning if the teams finish tied.

It also moved Tampa Bay (84-67) alongside Toronto for the top American League wild-card spot with 11 games left to play.

The score was 6-6 when the Rays retook the lead in the eighth inning.

Pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi drew a leadoff walk off Yimi Garcia. With Taylor Walls (who didn’t start due to groin tightness) pinch-running, rookie Miles Mastrobuoni, who in his last at-bat got his first big-league hit, got a bigger one, his single putting runners at the corners.

Pinch-hitter David Peralta’s sacrifice fly gave the Rays the lead back. With two on, Jays shortstop Bo Bichette whiffed on a Harold Ramirez grounder to make it 8-6, Mastrobuoni scoring after moving up on the sac fly. With two outs, Randy Arozarena, who earlier hit his 20th homer, laced a two-run single to left. He was thrown out trying to get to second.

Pete Fairbanks came on to close it out.

The Rays got off to a good start, scoring two runs in the first and expanding the lead to 3-0 in the fourth, while getting a strong four innings on the mound from Jeffrey Springs.

Harold Ramirez drew a one-out walk in the first, and Wander Franco followed with a double, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Arozarena’s grounder to first got one run home, and a bunt toward third base by Manuel Margot scored another.

In the fourth, Isaac Paredes doubled off the top of the leftfield wall for a one-out double. With two outs, Christian Bethancourt did the same to right-center to score him.

But that 3-0 lead disappeared in a messy fifth inning.

Things started badly for Springs when he allowed back-to-back doubles to Teoscar Hernandez and Raimel Tapia, getting the Jays one run. A one-out walk to No. 9 hitter Danny Jansen, then a hard two-out single by Bichette — a St. Petersburg Lakewood product — made it 3-2.

A single by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off the glove of Mastrobuoni scored the tying run.

The Jays went ahead 4-3 when Paredes fielded a grounder at third and bounced the throw to first.

The Rays came right back to take a 6-4 lead. Ramirez singled, Franco walked and Arozarena greeted reliever Anthony Bass with a drive to right that just cleared the short fence for a three-run homer. It was Arozarena’s 20th of the year, giving him back-to-back 20-homer/20-steal seasons.

But the Rays’ bullpen couldn’t hold this lead, either.

Colin Poche let the first two hitters reach, on a walk and a single. Jason Adam, who had stranded 27 consecutive inherited runners and 28 of 29, faltered.

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Jansen singled to left to score one run, and George Springer lofted a sacrifice fly to right that tied it 6-6.

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