Jonathan Aranda stays hot, leads Rays past Blue Jays
Jonathan Aranda homered for the second straight game, starter Taj Bradley broke a seven-game losing skid, and the Tampa Bay Rays secured a winning home record by edging the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Aranda was the offensive star Friday after homering off Toronto's Jose Berrios for the game's only run. On Saturday, he went 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBIs and a walk.
He continued his power surge in the third inning with a runner on and the Rays up 1-0. Aranda swatted Toronto starter Yariel Rodriguez's first pitch, a letter-high 95 mph fastball, 414 feet to straightaway center for a 3-0 lead for Tampa Bay (77-78).
In winning for the first time in 10 starts dating back to July 25, Bradley (7-11) allowed one run on six hits and two walks in five innings. The right-hander struck out four over 103 pitches.
Drew Rasmussen tossed two hitless, scoreless innings for his first save with the club and second of his career. He struck out three.
The Rays improved to 41-39 at home this season and are 4-1 on their homestand.
Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 3-for-5, while Spencer Horwitz had two hits, a run, RBI and walk. Alejandro Kirk drove in a run with his first career triple as the Blue Jays (73-82) fell to 1-4 on their six-game road trip.
Rodriguez (1-7) allowed three runs and four hits in four innings. He fanned three and walked three.
In the first inning, the Blue Jays' bats showed more life than they did in the series-opening 1-0 shutout, getting two-out singles from Guerrero and Horwitz. And while Bradley worked out of the jam, it took 26 pitches to do so.
Similarly, Rodriguez labored in a lengthy second inning. His leadoff walk of Aranda came around to score when Ben Rortvedt lined the 30th pitch of the frame into left field for a single and 1-0 advantage.
Bradley issued a two-out walk in the fifth to Nathan Lukes, and the left fielder came in to score on a dribbler down third by Horwitz. But Bradley kept it 3-1 by whiffing Kirk with two runners on.
Kirk redeemed himself in the seventh with a two-out triple to right that outfielder Josh Lowe appeared to lose while charging in, scoring Horwitz to make it 3-2 before Rasmussen shut down the win for his first save since 2021 with the Milwaukee Brewers.
