ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Rookie starter Shane Baz made a dazzling debut for the Rays on Monday, holding the potent Blue Jays to just two solo home runs over five innings.
And Yandy Diaz, Joey Wendle and a couple others made sure it mattered, leading the Rays to a 6-4 win. Diaz had the biggest blow, a three-run homer in the fifth off Jays ace Robbie Ray.
The Rays had to survive a challenging ninth to secure the win, as they opened the final inning with a 6-2 lead, but needed three relievers to get the final three outs.
David Robertson allowed a double, a two-run homer to Marcus Semien and a walk. JT Chargois came on to get two outs, but allowed a single and a walk to load the bases. Then Dietrich Enns struck out Breyvic Valera to end it.
Baz, the 22-year-old who worked his way up from Double-A to Triple-A — and after an Olympics sidetrip — to the majors, was poised and powerful over five innings.
He allowed just the two hits — homers by Teoscar Hernandez in the second and Lourdes Gurriel in the fifth — while walking none, striking out five and throwing 51 of his 65 pitches for strikes. He hit 99.5 mph in the first inning when striking out MVP candidate Vlad Guerrero Jr. and 98.7 mph in the fifth.
The win was especially welcomed as the Rays had lost two straight and seven of 11. They improved their American League-best record to 93-58 and extended their East lead over the idle Red Sox to seven games with 11 to play. The Rays reduced their magic number to clinch a third straight playoff berth to three, pending Oakland’s late result, and to win a second straight division title to five.
The Rays had a tough time in their first three games this season against Ray, scoring just seven earned runs and striking out 46 times in 34 innings while losing two of the three.
Monday, with an announced crowd of 10,119 watching at Tropicana Field, looked to be more of the same. And they did have a couple of chances early that they failed to convert.
That changed in the fifth. Taylor Walls singled with one out, and after he moved up on a wild pitch, Kevin Kiermaier also singled. Diaz, who laced a double leading off the game and lined out sharply in the third, fouled off two fastballs, took a third for ball one, then crushed the next one over the left-centerfield fence. That was Diaz’s 12th homer of the season and third of the month.
The Rays added single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, including Wendle’s 11th homer.
