ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Shane McClanahan didn’t give the Rays a very good start Friday, lasting only four innings and needing 91 pitches to get there.
But the lefty allowed only one run, which in turn allowed his teammates to take it from there, which they did in beating the Blue Jays, 7-1.
It was the fifth straight win for the Rays and improved them to 52-36 as they play their final series before the All-Star break.
Reliever Andrew Kittredge worked two innings, dominant as usual, for the Rays, then Jeffrey Springs another strong two before turning it over to J.P. Feyereisen.
Kittredge has been an unheralded key contributor to the bullpen, turning in his 10th scoreless outing in his past 11 and lowering his ERA to 1.47 through 32 appearances.
The offense came in spurts, as the Rays needed a couple of innings to solve Jays starter Alex Manoah, who threw seven shutout frames against them last Friday in Buffalo, N.Y.
The Rays got two in the third when All-Star catcher Mike Zunino was hit by a pitch and Brett Phillips laced a ground-rule double. A Ji-Man Choi walk — between Brandon Lowe and Wander Franco strikeouts — left them with the bases loaded and two outs. Austin Meadows delivered a single to right to make it 2-1 Rays.
They made it 3-1 in the fourth when they loaded the bases on a Taylor Walls double, Zunino reaching on an error, Lowe walking, and Choi getting hit by a pitch.
Zunino, hitting eighth, and Phillips stated another rally in the sixth with singles. They alertly moved up on a flyout to left and scored on Choi’s two-run single.
The Rays got two more in the seventh. Joey Wendle reached on an infield single, and Kevin Kiermaier turned an 0-2 count —the second strike coming on a foul ball as a bank of lights at Tropicana Field went out — into a walk. Walls then laced a double to center.
