The Tampa Bay Rays notched their eight come-from-behind win Last night in Toronto. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

After notching their eighth come-from-behind win last night, the Tampa Bay Rays will try to win a road series in Toronto on Saturday afternoon. With a win, the Rays would climb above the .500 mark, guaranteeing them at least a .500 first month of the season.

Blake Snell was wild, but effective, over the duration of his start. He was helped greatly by his defense, namely that of Steven Souza Jr.

In the first inning, Souza ranged and made a diving catch on a sinking liner that wasn’t directly hit at him. Then in the third, Souza chased down a deeply hit Jose Bautista fly ball in the gap — making an over the shoulder catch before crashing into the wall. Finally in the fourth, Souza made his second diving catch of the night on a line drive off the bat of Devon Travis. I’d imagine Snell owes him a beer, or something like that.

Snell was lifted after five innings of work; Tampa Bay’s 12th start of five innings or fewer in 24 games. During that stretch, Rays’ starters have posted just five quality starts, fewest in the majors.

Austin Pruitt took the mound in relief in the sixth and worked a clean frame before Kevin Pillar led off the seventh with a line drive homer to left — a solo shot that barely stayed fair and put the Blue Jays up by a pair. An inning later, the right-hander worked out of a jam to keep the game close.

Ezequiel Carrera reached on an infield hit with one out, then advanced to second on a Devon Travis groundout. Then with two outs, Tim Beckham bobbled a Luke Maile grounder to short, keeping the frame alive on the error. Pruitt collected himself and coaxed a Ryan Goins fly ball out to left to end the threat. Pruitt allowed only three hits over his three inning stint on the mound.  He’s now allowed just one run over his last 11-2/3 innings. It has been a complete 180 in fortune considering how his season started.

The Rays hit four homers in the final two innings of the game — marking the first time they have homered more than three times from the eighth inning on.

The most impressive homer of the night award goes to Logan Morrison for his tape measure shot to center.

(Photo Credit: StatCast, by way of Steve Carney/WDAE)

The New What Next

Matt Andriese (1-0, 3.86 ERA, 5.35 FIP) — who has two of the Rays quality starts — will take the mound, opposite of Francisco Liriano (1-2, 4.58 ERA, 3.60 FIP). Andriese faced a much thicker Blue Jays lineup in his first start and allowed four runs in four innings. The right-hander was in line for his second win of the season in the series finale with the Astros before Alex Colome blew his first save of the season, and allowed an unearned run in the ninth. The right-hander has allowed 10 runs this season, six of which coming on the long ball.

Liriano was touched up for five runs on three hits in just 1/3 of an inning in his season debut against Tampa Bay. Since, however, he has turned things around. Liriano has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his last three starts, notching 18 strikeouts to seven walks over those 17-1/3 innings. Key matchups: Peter Bourjos (9-31, 3 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, 2 BB), Corey Dickerson (1-2, RBI, BB), Evan Longoria (7-20, 2 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, BB), Brad Miller (2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Daniel Robertson (1-1)

You can read about the pitching matchup, and so much more, in our series preview.

Rays 4/29/17 Starting Lineup

4/29 #Rays lineup at TOR
Souza Jr. RF
Kiermaier CF
Longo 3B
Weeks Jr. 1B
Dickerson DH
Beckham SS
Robertson 2B
Sucre C
Bourjos LF
Andriese RHP

Noteworthiness

— Kevin Kiermaier used his speed to reach base three times last night on two hits and an error by Devon Travis. The speedy Kiermaier put the ball in play to the second baseman all three times, forcing Travis to speed up, well…everything in his attempts to snare the Outlaw.

— Injury report, courtesy of Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times):

OF Colby Rasmus (hip surgery) won’t rejoin the Rays until Monday, or perhaps Wednesday when they are back under AL rules, as he will continue his rehab assignment with Double-A Montgomery through the weekend. Rasmus, who was sick Friday, is 1-for-16 in five games.

LHP Xavier Cedeno (forearm tightness) received a PRP/stem cell injection Friday from Dr. James Andrews. The procedure will idle Cedeno for a month, with the Rays hopeful he can return in the second half of the season.

SS Matt Duffy (heel surgery) advanced to running the arcs on the back of the infield, though he has yet to make turns on the bases. “Doing pretty good,” he said. “I still feel it, but it’s to the point now where it’s not a sharp pain, it’s not lingering in between, I can run and walk back and it feels fine.” Duffy said he will be close“-ish” to starting a rehab assignment by the end of next week.

RHP Brad Boxberger (flexor strain) has progressed to playing catch on back-to-back days.

RHP Shawn Tolleson (flexor strain) advances from sock drills to playing catch Sunday.

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