Blue Jays settle for series split with Rays as offence sputters
Teoscar Hernandez drives in lone Toronto runs with homer, double
Hits by newly acquired Jose Siri and David Peralta produced the winning run for the Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
Peralta had two of Tampa Bay's six hits, all singles, after they managed just two hits in Tuesday night's 3-1 loss.
Peralta was acquired in a trade with Arizona on Saturday, and Siri came over from Houston in a three-way trade on Monday.
"I had a lot of pressure," Peralta said after driving in his first run for the Rays. "I got here Sunday. We lost. Yesterday we lost and I'm like, `Come on. You've got to do something.' We needed to start winning.
"But I was trying not to do too much. I knew it was going to happen, but it happened today."
New guy drives in the new(er) guy. Ya love to see it <a href="https://t.co/pRVP4NsjpR">pic.twitter.com/pRVP4NsjpR</a>
—@RaysBaseballRyan Thompson (3-2) got the win after pitching two hitless innings. Jason Adam worked the ninth for his fifth save in six attempts.
Teoscar Hernandez drove in Toronto's runs with a first-inning double and his 15th homer in the fourth.
Teoscar (HR)nández 😌 <a href="https://twitter.com/TeoscarH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeoscarH</a> <a href="https://t.co/NheQ0SFSbx">pic.twitter.com/NheQ0SFSbx</a>
—@BlueJaysYusei Kikuchi allowed two runs and three hits in four innings, striking out five. He threw 74 pitches in his second start after a three-week layoff due to a neck strain.
"Overall I felt good," Kikuchi said through a translator. "All three pitches were working so I feel like I'm going to keep getting better and better."
Rays opener Jalen Beeks pitched one inning and Ryan Yarbrough followed with four innings, giving up Hernandez's homer as his only hit. It was Hernandez's sixth career homer off Yarbrough.
"[Toronto has] arguably one of the best lineups in the league so anytime you can shut them down like that, that's a big win for us," Adam said. "Hopefully we can use some of that momentum and roll it into a nice little streak here."
The Blue Jays (58-46) began the day as the AL's wild-card leader after winning 13 of their previous 16 games. The Rays (55-49) won for only the third time in 11 games.
"You want to end a homestand on a good note, especially against someone we're chasing right now in the wild-card standings," Yarbrough said. "So everyone's in a good spot right now, and we've got a couple of new additions on the team."
