ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — First the Rays had to battle their way out of an early hole Saturday. Then they rallied late to win.
Manuel Margot lashed a ball through the legs of third baseman Cavan Biggio to score Brandon Lowe with the go-ahead run in the eighth to deliver a 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays.
The Rays (11-10) started the rally with walks off Jordan Romano by Lowe and Mike Brosseau, who hit a tying homer in the sixth.
Margot’s ball sent Lowe home, though Brosseau was thrown out trying to add to the lead. Margot later scored on a grounder by Kevin Kiermaier that Jays second baseman Marcus Semien fielded with the infield in, but hesitated and took the out instead at first.
Brent Honeywell wasn’t much of an opening act in his third big-league outing, though the 3-0 hole he put the Rays in during the 30-pitch first inning wasn’t all his fault.
Honeywell had two on and two out when he got Randal Grichuk to pop up a ball foul past first. Yandy Diaz tracked it back, turned, slowed and tried to make the catch, but it glanced off his glove.
Grichuk made them pay quickly, driving Honeywell’s next pitch into the left-field seats for a 3-0 lead.
The Rays got one back in the second when Mike Zunino laced a homer to left, his 107-mph drive off Robbie Ray foiling the Jays’ very Rays-like four-man outfield alignment.
Then the Rays got even in the sixth as Ray tried to go through their order a third time. Randy Arozarena led off with a single, and after struggling Lowe struck out, Brosseau lofted a 1-0 pitch over the left-field fence.
The Jays had a prime chance to go ahead in the eighth with two on and one out vs. Ryan Thompson. A pop-out by Semien, and an infield single by Lourdes Gurriel on a ball Brosseau tried to bare hand, left them with the bases loaded and two outs. Thompson got them out of it by striking out Alejandro Kirk.
Ryan Yarbrough had a second straight strong outing for the Rays pitching behind an opener, allowing just three hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out six. Yarbrough would prefer starting, but the results continue to show he is better coming out of the bullpen. In 32 starts, he is 5-13, 4.51 and hasn’t won since August 2019, a streak of 20. In 50 relief outings, he is 24-5, 3.47.
There was one of those Tropicana Field moments in the top of the second.
Biggio popped up a ball over home that several Rays tracked and pitcher Yarbrough tried, unsuccessfully, to catch.
The Rays said the ball hit something to change direction. The umps clearly were unsure, huddling three different times, looking up a lot, consulting with both managers, looking up some more.
They finally decided the ball did strike something — a cable between the A and B rings — in foul territory, and thus was a dead ball, sending Biggio back to the plates.
He made it somewhat of a moot point by slapping a single to left.
