A pair of AL East rivals close out a weekend set on the diamond north of the border in search of a victory. The Tampa Bay Rays are on the road as they finish up a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays Sunday afternoon. In the opening game of the series Friday night, it was the Blue Jays earning a 6-3 victory to draw first blood. Will the Rays bounce back and take the finale in a battle of aces or will Toronto pull out a win on getaway day? We break the game down and give you our take on the situation. This game was published prior to the conclusion of the middle game of the series at Rogers Centre Saturday afternoon.
I won $14,619 in parlay tickets in the month of November, hit a 47-1 parlay to kick off the New Year plus 15 more four-teamers worth more than $13,600 in the last eight weeks! Don't miss out on another big payday! Click here to get a month of my parlays for only $50 (normally $100)!
Tampa Bay suffered their first loss of the season after winning 13 straight to open the year as they were taken down Friday night in the opener of this set. The Rays fell to 13-1 on the year and entered Saturday holding a five-game lead on the Yankees and Blue Jays in the AL East race. On Friday night, Tampa Bay got two hits from Christian Bethancourt (run, RBI) as part of their eight-hit attack but fell short. Bethancourt (his second) and Josh Lowe (his third) each homered in the loss for the Rays. Drew Rasmussen (2-1) took the loss on the mound as he allowed five runs on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts over 4.1 innings of work.
Shane McClanahan is on the mound for the Rays in this contest as he logs his fourth start of the season. He comes in 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA, a 1.176 WHIP, nine walks and 21 strikeouts over 17 innings of work this year. McClanahan earned the win in his last start , which came against the Red Sox at home Tuesday night. He threw five innings, allowing one run on two hits with four walks and nine strikeouts in a game Tampa Bay won 7-2. McClanahan makes his seventh career start against the Blue Jays in this contest. He comes in 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA, a 1.085 WHIP, 11 walks and 31 strikeouts over 31.1 innings of work against them. McClanahan is 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA, a 0.667 WHIP, two walks and 15 strikeouts over 12 innings in two career starts at Rogers Centre.