Toronto Blue Jays vs Tampa Bay Rays Match Player Stats On Sep 07, 2019

Travis d'Arnaud's pinch-hit sacrifice fly broke an eighth-inning tie, and Daniel Robertson followed with his second RBI hit of the game to provide a bit of a cushion as the Tampa Bay Rays overcame the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Saturday night in St. Petersburg, Fla., for the club's fourth consecutive win.

Taking over in a game the Rays trailed 3-2 in the seventh, three Tampa Bay relievers combined for three innings of one-hit, five-strikeout relief, helping the home team improve to 8-1 on its current 10-game homestand.

Pinch hitter Ji-Man Choi led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk against Toronto's fourth pitcher, Jordan Romano (0-2), and advanced to third on a double by Kevin Kiermaier. One out later, d'Arnaud brought home pinch runner Mike Brosseau with the go-ahead run on his sacrifice fly, after which Robertson singled home Kiermaier for a 5-3 lead.

Following in the footsteps of Colin Poche in the seventh inning and Nick Anderson (5-4) in the eighth, Oliver Drake worked a scoreless ninth, striking out the side for his second save.

Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision.

Rays right-hander Charlie Morton, seeking a career-best-tying 15th win, carried a one-hit shutout and 2-0 lead one out into the sixth inning. But he allowed a one-out single to Rowdy Tellez, a double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a walk to Justin Smoak to load the bases. Consecutive RBI singles by Reese McGuire and Jonathan Davis got the Blue Jays even, and a sacrifice fly by Billy McKinney put the visitors on top 3-2.

Morton left after six innings, charged with three runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out 10.

The Rays tied the game in the seventh against the Toronto bullpen when Kean Wong singled and Robertson doubled him home.

Blue Jays starter Anthony Kay, making his major league debut, limited the Rays to two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander walked three and struck out eight.

Both runs he allowed came in the fourth inning, knocked in by Austin Meadows with an RBI single and Willy Adames on a bases-loaded walk.

Robertson and Avisail Garcia had two hits apiece for the Rays, who had won the first two games of the series 6-4 and 5-0 and will go for a four-game sweep on Sunday.

Davis collected a single and a double for the Blue Jays, who dropped their sixth straight and eighth of nine.

--Field Level Media