Field Level Media
May 22, 2021
Francisco Mejia's 12th-inning grand slam stretched the Tampa Bay Rays' winning streak to eight games Friday night as they beat the host Toronto Blue Jays 9-7 in Dunedin, Fla.
With the game deadlocked 5-5 and Brett Phillips taking second base for the second time in extra innings, Yandy Diaz advanced Phillips to third with a groundout. Toronto reliever Jeremy Beasley (0-1) then issued intentional walks around a strikeout.
Mejia turned on the first pitch and blasted his second career grand slam deep to right for the Rays' first hit since the sixth inning.
Brandon Lowe notched two home runs and three RBIs while Ji-Man Choi produced two hits, including a two-run shot, off the bench for the Rays, who own the longest active winning stretch in the majors.
Winning pitcher Diego Castillo (1-2) tossed 1 1/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on one hit.
Rays starter Tyler Glasnow recorded season lows of 4 2/3 innings and two strikeouts. He surrendered five runs on nine hits -- including two homers -- and walked one over 93 pitches.
Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 3-for-5, homered twice and drove in four runs, and Marcus Semien went 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBIs, falling a single short of hitting for the cycle.
Blue Jays starter Anthony Kay allowed two runs on four hits in four innings. He struck out four and walked four.
In a two-run bottom of the first, Toronto received an RBI infield single by Guerrero and a run-scoring single by Teoscar Hernandez. However, Glasnow got out of a trouble with a double play and a groundout.
After Jonathan Davis singled and stole second with two outs in the second, Semien launched a drive to center that carried in the hitter-friendly park and bounced off the wall for a triple and a 3-0 lead.
Lowe put two runs on the board for the Rays in the third with a home run to right off Kay -- his first long ball and just third hit overall in 46 at-bats off lefty pitching this year.
Guerrero immediately got one of the runs back with a 444-foot blast to center.
In the fifth, Lowe made it 4-3 by popping his ninth homer of the season -- off left-hander Travis Bergen -- onto the roof beyond the right field wall. However, Semien led off the bottom of the inning with his 11th for a quick answer.
The Rays tied it 5-5 when pinch hitter Choi swatted his second homer off A.J. Cole.
--Field Level Media