ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Rays let the lead get away once Wednesday against the Blue Jays as Jose Alvarado faltered again.
Willy Adames made sure they still went home happy, with a walk-off single on a fly ball to center with the bases loaded to give them a 4-3 11-inning win.
That was all before a gathering of 6,166, which ranks as the second smallest crowd in franchise history at the Trop, a whole 380 more than Tuesday's record low of 5,786.
Ji-Man Choi started the winning rally against Justin Shafer with a leadoff walk. Brandon Lowe flied out, then Avisail Garcia laced a single to left-center, sending Choi to third, where he was replaced by pinch-runner. The Jays intentionally walked Kevin Kiermaier to bring up Adames. The Jays set up a five-man infield and moved in their outfielders and Adames hit it over their heads.
The victory extended the Rays latest winning streak to a season-high matching five and improved their record to 34-19, keeping them a game behind the Yankees in the AL East.
They also completed their fourth sweep of the season, and their first at home, failing three previous times when in position to get it done.
Amid the celebration of how it ended, Hunter Wood deserved some credit for saving them several times during his stellar three-inning outing.
The three pitches it took Blake Snell to give up two runs to start the game, the Rays could overcome, taking a 3-2 lead by the fifth.
The four pitches it took Alvarado to blow that lead at the start of the eighth proved to be a bit more problematic.
After the rough start, Snell settled down to work his usual six solid innings, and the Rays got back those runs and more.
With Austin Meadows starting both rallies, they got an RBI single from Garcia in the third, and a two-run double by Lowe in the fifth, to take a 3-2 lead.
But then Alvarado let them down again.
Alvarado has had his of issues of late, blowing games each of the previous two Fridays, then coming back to redeem himself. In his previous five outings, covering 4 1/3 innings, he allowed five runs and seven hits.
Wednesday, he made a mess after taking over in the eighth, though he didn't get much help from his Rays mates.
A first pitch grounder by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. got by Adames, though scored a hit. A fastball that bounced past catcher Erik Kratz, scored a wild pitch, moved Gurriel to second. Justin Smoak lined a single to right that Garcia couldn't come up with cleanly, and Gurriel scored.
Alvarado had more problems, walking the next two before manager Kevin Cash had seen enough.
Wood came in for the Rays and saved the day, getting a ground ball for a home to first double play then a liner to center.
Wood came through again in the ninth after allowing a one-out double to Vlad Guerrero Jr. and then a single to Eric Sogard.
Snell didn't start well.
As in after three pitches, he'd given up more runs than in either of his last two starts, and six of his 10.
Sogard took ball one and then singled to center. Gurriel Jr. then launched the next pitch, a curveball, over the left-field fence. And just like that the Rays were down 2-0.
Snell had to work, and get some help, to keep it from getting worse as he gave up hits to the next two Jays, Smoak and Rowdy Tellez singling. He came back to strike out Randal Grichuk. But then he gave up a rocketed shot to Freddy Galvis that Lowe made a diving catch on and then flipped to second for a double play.
Snell allowed only two hits after the rough first inning, and ended up working six. Being limited to 87 pitches Wednesday may have been as much a product of throwing a season-high 104 in his last outing Friday.
The last time the Rays faced Jays starter Trent Thornton, in Toronto in April, they launched two of his pitches into the rare air of the 500 level at Rogers Centre and chased him in the fourth.
Wednesday, he had a better handle on things.
The Rays got one back in the third when Meadows and Garcia, two of their top players right now, teamed up.
Meadows, who was on base three more times, drew a walk, went to second on Tommy Pham's single, third on Choi's lineout and a two-out single by Garcia.
The Rays got to Thornton again in the fifth, and got the lead, with Lowe getting then bit.
Meadows got then started, again, with a leadoff single, and Pham walked. With one out Lowe quickly got down in the count 0-2, took a high fastball and then laced a curve, the pitch that had been giving him trouble, that one-hopped the center-field wall for a 3-2 lead.
The Rays open a four-game series against the AL-leading Minnesota Twins, managed by former Ray Rocco Baldelli, on Thursday.
