St. Petersburg, FL – Jonathan Aranda and Brandon Lowe each homered as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon in their home finale in front of 20,567.
Kevin Kelly (5-2, 2.75 ERA) picked up the win for Tampa Bay who improve to 78-78. Edwin Uceta worked the ninth inning notching his fourth save.
With the win the Rays conclude their regular season at Tropicana Field and finish the season 42-39 at home. The Rays finish the season winning 9 of 13 against the Blue Jays. It marks the Rays fourth consecutive win. The last time they won four consecutive games was May 15 though 18th.
Genesis Cabrera (3-3, 3.10 ERA) takes the loss for the Blue Jays who drop to 73-83. The Blue Jays have lost seven straight season series against the Rays.
Shane Baz started for Tampa Bay working six innings and allowing 1 earned run on four hits while striking out six and walking one. It marks the sixth consecutive start that Baz has worked at least five innings and allowed two earned runs or less. He drops his season ERA to 3.07.
Kevin Cash mixed and matched with Colin Poche, Kevin Kelly, Richard Lovelady, Hunter Bigge, and Edwin Uceta to work the final three innings to secure the win. Kevin Kelly allowed an inherited runner to score but extended his scoreless innings streak to 22.1
Jonathan Aranda homered off Zach Pop in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the Rays in front 2-1. It was Aranda’s sixth homer and it marked the first time this season that a Rays player has homered in three consecutive games.
Christopher Morel came off the bench to deliver a pinch-hit sacrifice fly to put the Rays up 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh. Brandon Lowe capped the scoring for the Rays hitting his 20th home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth.
Lowe’s homer gave him back-to-back seasons with 20 or more homers for the first time in his career. The RBI gave him 360 in his career, surpassing Fred McGriff for seventh place on the Rays All-Time list.
The Rays finish their season with three gams against the Tigers in Detroit followed by three in Boston against the Red Sox. The Rays will have an off-day Monday before taking on Detroit Tuesday nigh at 6:40 p.m. Ryan Pepiot (8-6, 3.64 ERA) will take the mound for Tampa Bay while Detroit counters with Cy Young candidate Tarik Skubal (17-4, 2.48 ERA).
