TORONTO — The Tampa Bay Rays matched the 2020 club for the third-best 40-game start in franchise history after beating the Blue Jays, running their record to 28-12 in a season that began with the team widely projected to finish last in the AL East.
Only the 2023 squad (30-10) and the 2010 team (29-11) started faster. The Atlanta Braves (28-13) are the only club in the Majors with a better record than a Rays team that has won nine of its last 10 games and an MLB-best 25 of 33 since April 4. Tampa Bay is a staggering 19-3 against American League competition and the first AL East team to win nine of its first 10 divisional games since the 1992 Blue Jays.
“They certainly are pitching with a lot of confidence right now,” manager Kevin Cash said. “What they’re doing as kind of a unit is really, really impressive.”
Starter Drew Rasmussen held Toronto to three runs on four hits and a walk over six innings, striking out six in his franchise-record 46th consecutive start allowing four runs or fewer. A two-run homer by Andrés Giménez off lefty Ian Seymour in the seventh snapped the Rays’ franchise-record streak of 16 straight games allowing three or fewer earned runs — the longest in the Majors since the Giants’ 18-game run in September 2010. Tampa Bay has yielded only 29 total runs over its last 17 games.
“I’d like to keep this pace going,” Rasmussen quipped. “Think we’re gonna be in a really good spot if we can do that.”
The offense has leaned on contact and depth rather than raw power. The Rays entered the game with the Majors’ best contact rate (82.8%) and second-lowest strikeout rate (18.6%). “A lot of good things can happen when you move the ball,” center fielder Cedric Mullins said. Jake Fraley and Richie Palacios, neither of whom had recorded an at-bat since the previous Tuesday, delivered a two-out double and a two-run single, respectively, during a three-run first inning that also featured singles by Chandler Simpson and Junior Caminero and a sacrifice fly by Jonathan Aranda.
“Even when you’re not starting, you’re going to play on this team,” said Palacios, who collected three hits. “Everybody’s always ready, trying to do the best that they can with their skill set.”
Aranda, who quietly leads the American League with 32 RBIs, added a broken-bat RBI single in the second and a Statcast-projected 415-foot solo home run to center in the fifth — his 10th of 32 career homers against Toronto. “Fortunately, I just play really well against them,” Aranda said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “Thankfully, they’re a division rival, and I’m able to come through.”
Starter Shane McClanahan credited the clubhouse atmosphere for fueling the run. “I’ve been joking around and calling it the power of friendship,” McClanahan said, grinning. “Obviously there is more to it than just that. Everybody here does what they do so well, and everybody’s allowed to be who they are as a competitor, as a person, and it definitely translates.”
The Rays continue their series in Toronto before returning to Tropicana Field, where the club will look to extend its dominance against AL opponents.