ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ There have been more and more days lately when the Rays can look like a pretty good team. Saturday's 5-3 win over the Blue Jays was another.
Jake Faria gave them a solid start, working into the sixth. The bullpen took care of the final 11 outs with only one roll of Tums worth of drama. The offense cobbled and created enough runs, with only one extra-base hit.
And the march back from 1-8 and 3-12 and 4-13 to at least respectability has continued. The Rays won for the 11th time in their last 14 games, improving to 15-16 and with a chance, actually their third in the last week, to get to .500 a middle ground that a few weeks ago seemed like the Promised Land.
Faria certainly did his part, with another solid outing. Wilson Ramos, Matt Duffy, Denard Span and C.J. Cron all played roles in the scoring.
But the star of the night may have been closer Alex Colome, who had to get ready in a hurry to face Josh Donaldson with the tying run on second and one out in the eighth, and stuck around for a five-out save.
The Rays took the lead in the first without a hit, as Aaron Sanchez walked three of the first four, with a double play grounder in there, and Wilson Ramos hit a grounder that second baseman Lourdes Gurriel Jr. booted. They could have had more.
The Rays got another run in the third when they rapped three singles, by Cron, Brad Miller and Ramos. Again, they could have had more.
A couple singles, another Toronto error and a sac fly got their third and fourth runs in the fourth. And a double by Mallex Smith and the Jays' third error led to an insurance run in the eighth.
Faria, coming off arguably the best start of his big-league, and maybe professional, career, was sharp again Saturday. He allowed only a walk, erased by a double play, in zipping through the first three innings. Teoscar Hernandez made the first Toronto hit a homer to start the fourth, and Faria didn't allow anything else until a pair of singles to open the sixth.
Cash went then to the bullpen, using Chaz Roe and Jose Alvarado with good results and Sergio Romo not so much.
Monday in Detroit, Faria worked eight shutout innings against the Tigers, allowing only three hits.
It was the first start by a Ray of at least eight innings since Alex Cobb on July 21, 2017 against Texas, and the first with at least eight zeroes since Cobb on June 27, 2017. Faria had thrown only eight innings twice before, with Double-A Montgomery and with Class A Charlotte in 2015.
