The two teams battling for second place in the AL East race continue a series on the diamond down in the Sunshine State. We have the Toronto Blue Jays on the road as they make the trip to continue a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night. Toronto split a two-game interleague set with the Phillies in the City of Brotherly Love as they fell 4-3 in 10 innings Wednesday night. Tampa Bay was swept at home in a three-game set by the Astros as they were defeated 5-2 in the series finale Wednesday night. This article was published prior to the conclusion of the opening game of the series at Tropicana Field Thursday night.
Toronto couldn’t hold a late lead and ended up losing to Philadelphia on the road Wednesday night, ending up with a split of their short two-game set. The Blue Jays entered Thursday second in the AL East, 6.5 games behind the Yankees for the division lead. They held the top wild card spot in the American League playoff picture by two games over Tampa Bay and Seattle while they were 6.5 games ahead of Baltimore to remain on the right side of the cut line. On Wednesday night, Toronto got two of their seven hits from Bo Bichette while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. clobbered his 30th homer of the season in the loss. Kevin Gausman threw six scoreless frames, allowing five hits with two walks and eight strikeouts, yet didn’t factor in the decision. Adam Cimber (10-6) took the loss as he allowed one run (none earned) on one hit with one walk, a hit batter and no strikeouts in one-third of an inning.
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Alek Manoah is on the mound for the Blue Jays as he makes his 30th start of the season in this contest. He comes in 14-7 with a 2.40 ERA, a 1.007 WHIP, 47 walks and 168 strikeouts over 183.2 innings of action. Manoah didn’t factor in the decision in his last start, which came Sunday at home against the Orioles. He threw six innings, allowing one run on four hits with four walks and five strikeouts in a game the Blue Jays lost by a 5-4 score. In his last three starts, Manoah is 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, seven walks and 15 strikeouts over 20.2 innings of work. Manoah makes his seventh career start against the Rays in this contest. He comes in 3-2 with a 1.69 ERA, a 0.911 WHIP, 12 walks and 45 strikeouts over 37.1 innings of work. Manoah is 1-2 with a 2.87 ERA, a 1.404 WHIP, nine walks and 20 strikeouts over 15.2 innings in three career starts at Tropicana Field.