The Tampa Bay Rays will bid for a three-game series sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon when the American League East rivals play in St. Petersburg, Fla.
On Saturday, the Rays (77-78) clinched a winning home record behind a two-run homer from Jonathan Aranda, a win from starter Taj Bradley, and Drew Rasmussen’s first save with the club in a 3-2 victory.
“You sit on the sideline for so (long) and have to watch everyone get to compete — it’s really hard,” said Rasmussen, a former Rays starter who has missed most of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery but hit 100 mph on the radar Saturday. “To be back … there’s so much excitement. It’s truly a blessing.”
Sunday starter Shane Baz (3-3, 3.21 ERA), in his most recent outing, allowed two runs on two hits in seven innings of an 8-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
Against the Blue Jays, the right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 11 innings over two starts.
The Rays received promising news on the injury front in regard to Shane McClanahan, who anchored the rotation as the staff ace since arriving in 2021 before undergoing Tommy John surgery on his left elbow last August.
McClanahan appears to be on schedule to slide in to his regular schedule when the team is ready for spring training.
“I’ll have live BP next week, and then it’s a normal, healthy offseason,” McClanahan said Friday.
In his three-year career, the local product from the University of South Florida is 33-16 with a 3.02 ERA. In 404 2/3 career innings, the flame-thrower has 456 strikeouts.
McClanahan was 11-2 with a 3.29 ERA over 21 starts last season.
The Blue Jays (73-82), meanwhile, fell to 1-4 on their six-game trip and are 19-28 in one-run games this season. They are 20-28 within their division.
Their season-to-season struggles against AL East opposition have continued in the current meetings: Toronto has dropped seven consecutive season series to the Rays, last winning one in 2017, when they claimed 10 of 19 contests.
Manager John Schneider’s club is 4-8 against the Florida team as it awaits Sunday’s finale.
On Friday, star pitcher Jose Berrios narrowly missed a chance at etching his name in the organization’s record book.
In his bid to win his eighth straight start and tie Roger Clemens (1997) for the second-longest streak ever by a Toronto pitcher, Berrios (16-10) surrendered a solo homer to Jonathan Aranda and took the loss as the Blue Jays were blanked for the ninth time this season, 1-0.
“(He) has been about as consistent as anyone around the league this year,” Schneider said of Berrios. “And today was just another example of it.”
The fans in Canada can expect to see Berrios one final time, likely Wednesday against the Boston Red Sox.
Toronto is expected to have a bullpen game on Sunday afternoon in the finale against Tampa Bay.
