Rays rally late to defeat Blue Jays and pick up 10th consecutive win

Austin Meadows, Manuel Margot and Mike Brosseau drew consecutive bases-loaded walks with two outs in the ninth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays rallied for their 10th straight win, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-4 on Sunday.

The comeback win lifted Tampa Bay into a first-place tie with Boston in the AL East.

The Rays trailed 4-2 going into the ninth, but took advantage of five walks by relievers Tyler Chatwood (0-1) and Travis Bergen to send Toronto to its fifth straight loss.

After a leadoff walk and a single, Brett Phillips hit an RBI single with one out that made it 4-3. Chatwood retired Randy Arozarena on a flyball before walking Yandy Diaz to load the bases.

"That was a fun one," Phillips said.

Bergen entered and Meadows worked for a nine-pitch walk after fouling off three 3-2 pitches, tying the score. Margot walked on five pitches to put Tampa Bay ahead and Brosseau walked on four pitches.

"Our guys did a tremendous job of not helping him out," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Austin Meadows' at-bat was just remarkable."

With the Blue Jays playing a shift against the left-handed hitting Meadows, the runner at third, rookie Taylor Walls, broke toward the plate several times prompting Bergen to step off the pitching runner repeatedly.

"It could create a little havoc, for sure," Cash said.

Josh Fleming (4-3) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings out of the bullpen. Recently acquired J.P. Feyereisen worked the ninth to get his first save.

'It's like 4 tough losses in a row'

Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning off Fleming that gave Toronto a 4-2 lead.

Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo talked with his team after the game.

"Keep playing," Montoyo said. "They're frustrated, of course. Tough losses. It's like four tough losses in a row."

Francisco Mejia homered for the Rays.

Toronto starter Hyun Jin Ryu allowed two runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead on Mejia's fifth-inning solo homer.

Teoscar Hernandez hit a fourth-inning solo homer and then tied it at 2 with an RBI single in the fifth. In 22 games since returning from the COVID-related injury list, he has five homers and 22 RBIs.

Margot put the Rays up 1-0 on a first-inning RBI single.

Michael Wacha gave up one hit over two scoreless innings as the Rays opener. It was his first appearance since May 2 after being sidelined by a right hamstring strain.