Rays Can't Cap Sweep As Jays Take Pitcher's Duel

Randall Grichuk's groundout in front of the plate would be enough for the Toronto Blue Jays to break a 1-1 tie Sunday, giving them a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Rogers Centre to prevent a three-game sweep.

Both Rays starter Tyler Glasnow and his counterpart Marcus Stroman each started with three shutout innings of work, but it was the Toronto starter who would blink first, with Joey Wendle singling to begin the fourth inning, moving up a base each on groundouts from Ji-Man Choi and Kevin Kiermaier and scoring on a base hit by Willy Adames.

Glasnow allowed just a pair of hits and a walk through five shutout innings, but came out to begin the sixth and walked Luke Maile.  Manager Kevin Cash then turned to Jose Alvarado to face pinch-hitter Kevin Pillar, who doubled and Devon Travis followed with a base hit to tie the game.  Cash then brought in Ryne Stanek to match up against Grichuk, whose swinging bunt in front of the plate was pounced on by catcher Michael Perez for the out at first, but Pillar beat the throw back to Stanek covering the plate, and replay review was inconclusive to overturn the call.

Jaime Garcia (3-6) picked up the win after striking out a pair in a scoreless top of the sixth.  

Tampa Bay's best chance to tie the game came in the seventh, when Danny Barnes walked Brandon Lowe and gave up a base hit to Perez, both with two out.  However, Mallex Smith just missed tying the game off Tyler Clippard as his opposite-field line drive landed inches foul, and he grounded to second base on the next pitch to strand runners at the corners.

Ryan Tepera worked a scoreless eighth, and Ken Giles' 1-2-3 ninth, including a striking out Adames, earned him his 13th save.

TUESDAY'S MATCHUP

Tampa Bay Rays (61-57) at New York Yankees (74-43), 7:05 p.m. first pitch.  Coverage on WDAE begins at 6:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Crown Eurocars.

Rays starter - TBD

Yankees starter - TBD


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