Jonathan Aranda hit a home run, and six pitchers from Tampa Bay combined to allow just five hits as the Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 on Friday night.
Aranda hit his homer off José Berríos (14-10) with one out in the sixth inning.
“A lot of adrenaline going around the bases,” Aranda said through a translator. “It felt good at the moment because I knew what it meant, hitting it out, 0-0 game, giving us the lead. And I know these games right now might not mean a lot for other people, but for me, they still mean a lot. And we won the game with that at-bat.”
This loss snapped Berríos’ seven-game winning streak, during which he had a 1.51 ERA. He gave up one run, six hits, one walk, and struck out six in six innings.
“Just that one pitch,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I thought Josey was awesome. I loved the way he attacked.”
Rays starter Tyler Alexander allowed two hits over 4 1/3 innings. Kevin Kelly (4-2) continued his scoreless streak to 22 innings by pitching 1 2/3 innings.
Manuel Rodríguez got out of a jam in the seventh with runners on second and third. Edwin Uceta and Colin Poche handled the eighth inning, and Hunter Bigge finished the game to earn his first career save.
“There’s a lot of good fortune in there,” Kelly said. “I’m fortunate to have a good defense who’s well positioned, I’ve been making the pitches when needed to.”
The Rays had previously limited Boston to just one hit in a 2-0 victory on Thursday night. Tampa Bay’s pitchers have now gone a season-high 19 innings without allowing a run.
“I’m very impressed by what everyone has been able to do,” Bigge said. “I think we have a really talented group of pitchers here and we have a good approach. We trust our defense and it’s really fun to watch.”
Tampa Bay had a runner reach third base in each of the first three innings against Berríos but went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
