Rays rally past Blue Jays, roll to 4th straight win
TORONTO — Jonny DeLuca had an idea walking up to the plate for the final time Saturday.
An earlier rally had cut Toronto’s lead to one, so when Isaac Paredes singled off Nate Pearson to open the eighth, DeLuca thought the right move would be to move pinch-runner Richie Palacios up 90 feet.
“I was honestly thinking first possibly bunt, just to get the tying run in scoring position,” DeLuca said. “Then (the coaches) didn’t put anything on, (so) I was thinking about doing it myself.”
Then DeLuca had a different idea.
“I was like, first pitch, I’m going to sit heater,” said DeLuca of waiting for a fastball. “I ended up getting it and putting a good swing on it.”
Pearson, the Spring Hill Bishop McLaughlin product, threw it 97.3 mph. DeLuca hit it 105.9 mph and on a line over the leftfield wall, the two-run homer giving the Rays a 5-4 lead they kept to win their fourth straight game.
“It felt good,” DeLuca said. “I mean, it’s 97, so he supplied most of it. I just put a barrel on it and it ended up creeping over.”
As for the change of plans?
“Yeah,” DeLuca said, “it was a good decision in retrospect.”
The Rays had a lot to be happy about Saturday, coming back from a 4-0 sixth-inning deficit against tough Jays starter Kevin Gausman, and about what they have done lately. The win was their fourth straight, sixth in eight games and 11th in 15 as they improved to a season-high three games over .500 at 25-22.
“Today was a huge win to come back right there,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We should be feeling pretty good about ourselves. And I feel like a little bit more representative of kind of who we are.”
That feeling of playing more like they expected pervaded the clubhouse as well.
“It was just a matter of time,” said Yandy Diaz, who was on base five times, via team interpreter Manny Navarro. “I knew we had it in the guys. And like I’ve said before, I always think this is the best team in baseball. Fortunately we were able to do that (Saturday).”
Starter Zach Eflin, who gave up four runs over his six innings, said they not only are playing better, but more together.
“It feels like every facet of our game, our backs are covered,” he said. “Like going out there and giving up a big fifth inning to the Blue Jays, but us going out there and working Gausman as much as we could and get to the bullpen and being able to come up with the lead and hold the lead.
“So it’s just this sense of people having each other’s backs. We’re playing really good baseball right now and making sure that we pick the next guy up.”
The Jays built their lead with a run in the fourth and three in the fifth, their first four hitters rapping hits off Eflin, including a two-run double by Daulton Varsho, then a drive off the rightfield wall by Vlad Guerrero Jr., who DeLuca threw out trying to get to second.
Having gone through the first five innings with only four hits off Gausman — and seeing two of those runners make outs on the bases — the Rays put together a legit rally.
Diaz and Randy Arozarena singled. Then with two outs and runners on the corners, DeLuca had one of a series of good Tampa Bay at-bats, working an eight-pitch walk to load the bases.
Amed Rosario, one of the league’s best two-out hitters, delivered a single that scored two. Jose Caballero followed with a single to cut the margin to 4-3.
“You saw the quality of at-bats that we were having, in the second half of that game, they really kind of stood out,” said reliever Garrett Cleavinger, who closed out the ninth. “Guys strung together really tough at-bats, and we got some runs on the board. That was cool.”
Jason Adam made things interesting in the eighth, putting the first two Jays on by allowing a hit to Guerrero and hitting Bo Bichette, then getting the next three out.
“I think Jason had to take a deep breath right there,” Cash said. “(Pitching coach Kyle Snyder) went out there and kind of calmed the situation. And then (Adam) started executing pitches like we’ve seen all season long.”
Then it was just a matter of getting a couple more runs, and holding the Jays down in the ninth.
“It doesn’t matter who’s out there,” Diaz said. “You know the confidence is going to be out there. And we’re going to have confidence at 10,000%.”
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