Luke Maile and Erasmo Ramirez make an adjustment in the second inning of the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)
Luke Maile and Erasmo Ramirez make an adjustment in the second inning of the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)
After taking a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning against Mark Buehrle, the AL East division champions answered with four runs in the sixth, rolling past the Tampa Bay Rays by an 8-4 margin. The loss ended the Rays’ hopes of finishing with a .500 record, as Tampa Bay fell to 78-82 on the season with two to go. It, too, was a microcosm of why the players will be spending October at home for the second consecutive year.

Erasmo Ramirez limited Toronto to just one run for the game’s only tally over the first five innings. The righty worked in and out of trouble all along, though to his credit he was able to coax a good number of grounders from the Jays’ productive bats (eight singles and three ground ball outs). More than a few of those singles sound holes due to defensive placement ― call it luck dragonesque.

Tampa Bay took a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning, after Mikie Mahtook belted a long three-run homer to left field. It was Mahtook’s eighth homer of the season, and third in six at-bats off Buehrle. He became just the second player to hit three homers off the lefty in a season. The other: Matt LeCroy with the Twins in 2005.

The lead, however, was short lived. Russell Martin started a one-out rally against Ramirez with a single to center. Troy Tulowitzki singled to left, and then Kevin Pillar lined an RBI double past a diving Joey Butler in left to make it 4-2. Ramirez, who scattered a career-high 10 hits, departed for Enny Romero.

Following in the footsteps of his contemporaries, Romero couldn’t hold the lead. Ryan Goins tripled to right, plating two runs to tie the game at four. With a runner at third and just one out, Ben Revere hit a sacrifice-fly to right giving Toronto a one-run advantage.

Andrew Bellatti started the sixth and Edwin Encarnacion belted his 38th homer of the season off the Porch in center field. Chris Colabello followed with triple off the B-ring catwalk in left field, and Martin followed blasted a two-run homer to left (his 23rd) for an 8-4 lead. Per Neil Solondz (Rays Radio), Toronto now has scored 28 runs on 49 hits in the last four games against the Rays, collecting 10 homers in the process.

The New What Next

Chris Archer does have something to pitch for this afternoon, even though the W/L record says otherwise. According to Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times), Archer acknowledged that the toll of 207 innings over 33 starts (plus the All-Star Game) has left him with “a little fatigue” and throwing at about 85-90 percent.

Archer — 2-5, 5.09 in his past 10 starts — will take the mound Saturday seeing an opportunity for “a growth moment” in his continuing quest to improve:

It’s been a long season, and I think that one of the biggest things I can learn is how to be effective when I’m not feeling 100 percent, he said There’s no way I want to go out the way I did that last outing,” Archer said. So I’m happy to be able to go out there and have another shot at their lineup, and really finish on a stronger note. Not necessarily the numbers but as far as what I can control, I want to display that I can do a much better job of controlling that.

Right-hander Marco Estrada (13-8, 3.15) will take the mound opposite of Archer. During his last two outings against Tampa Bay, Estrada has allowed just five hits over 16-2/3 scoreless innings. This will be his final tune-up before the ALDS. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 10/3/15 Starting Lineup

Jaso LF
Sizemore DH
Longoria 3B
Cabrera SS
Souza RF
Loney 1B
Beckham 2B
Kiermaier CF
Rivera C
Archer RHP

Noteworthiness

— Brandon Guyer was hit three times by Buehrle Friday night, extending his team season record to 24 — six shy of majors-leading Cubs 1BAnthony Rizzo. Per Topkin, it was the first time a batter was hit three times by the same pitcher since 2006, when Toronto’s Reed Johnson was plunked thrice by Tampa Bay LHP Casey Fossum.

— The Rays shut down Curt Casali for the remainder of the season, not wanting to risk a recurrence of a left hamstring strain that could impact his winter work as he should enter spring training as the starting catcher.

To his credit he has grinder it out, Rays skipper Kevin Cash said. It just doesn’t make a ton of sense for him to go out there, catch three innings, have a couple at-bats. … We’ve got to be smart with him. We want him to have a good offseason, a normal offseason and continue getting better.

— Logan Forsythe will end the season as the Rays’ MVP. Forsythe was slated platoon duty at second base at the beginning of the season until Nick Franklin strained an oblique toward the end of spring training, leading to the chance to play every day.

The 28 year-old utility player seized the opportunity and led all American League second basemen with 17 home runs, 68 RBI and an .803 OPS, essentially replacing the production the team lost in trading Ben Zobrist. Instead of discussing whether or not Kevin Kiermaier is deserving of a contract extension, Perhaps we should be talking about Forsythe.

 

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