ST. PETERSBURG (WDAE) -- Travis d'Arnaud's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning broke a 3-3 tie, giving the Tampa Bay Rays their fourth straight win overall and three in a row over the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 Saturday at Tropicana Field.
Veteran Charlie Morton and rookie Anthony Kay, who was making his Major League debut Saturday, matched each other through the first three innings, but it would be Tampa Bay who would jump out to an early lead. Avisail Garcia and Tommy Pham would lead off with bae hits and Austin Meadows, who has tortured Blue Jays pitching in 2019, followed with a single that scored Garcia for a 1-0 lead. Kay got Jesus Aguilar to fly out, but hit Matt Duffy with a pitch to load the bases. He struck out Kevin Kiermaier, but walked Willy Adames to force in a second run in the inning.
The game remained 2-0 until the sixth, when Toronto would rally to pass the Rays. Morton gave up a one-out single to Rowdy Tellez and a double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., then walked Justin Smoak to load the bases. Reese McGuire and Jonathan Davis each singled to bring in a run, the latter tying the game, and Billy McKinney's sacrifice fly broke the tie.
Tampa Bay tied the contest up again in the seventh, as Kean Wong pinch-hit for Mike Zunino and singled for his first Major League hit. Daniel Robertson then drove in Wong from first base with a double to left away from a shifted outfield.
The Rays broke the tie in the ninth, as pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi drew a leadoff walk from reliever Jordan Romano. Lefty Tim Mayza was then summoned to face Kiermaier and allowed a double, moving Choi to third base. Mayza struck out Wendle. Charlie Montoyo then brought in Ryan Tepera to face pinch-hitter Travis d'Arnaud, who lifted a sacrifice fly to right that scored pinch-runner Mike Brosseau to break the tie, and Robertson singled in iermaier for an insurance run.
Nick Anderson, who allowed a leadoff double to Smoak, but finished the eighth scoreless, earned the win. Oliver Drake struck out the side in the ninth to earn his second save.
Tampa Bay will look for the series sweep Sunday, as Tyler Glasnow will be activated from the 60-day injured list to make his first start since May 11.