ST. PETERSBURG — One look at third baseman Taylor Walls’ dirty uniform told you all about how the Rays defeated the Blue Jays at Tropicana Field on Thursday afternoon.
Tampa Bay has hit more than 300 homers this season, but the 6-3 win was less bash and more attacking. Rushing, aggressive base running and a perfect 7v7 line on stolen bases were the recipe for success.
“You have to find ways to win ball games without hitting every now and then,” Walls said. “Today we had people on the base and we had good opportunities to take advantage of the things we had. The situations pretty much told us when to do it [run] and we just trusted that and drove off.”
Walls recorded two of those seven steals, matching a season-high set by Tampa Bay against the Mets on May 17 and just one point shy of the franchise record. No other MLB team has stolen more than six bases in a game this season, and the last club to steal that many bases without getting caught was the 2017 Nationals.
According to Walls, the Rays “felt like they had something against Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah when they arrived at the base.” While first base coach Chris Prieto’s scouting report received acclaim, no state secrets were disclosed. Regardless, the club repeatedly made the best of that weakness, as the third inning showed.
At this point, Walls stole second after a walk and then managed a double steal with first baseman Luke Raley trail runner. Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk’s third-place throw was low and slipped away from third baseman Matt Chapman, sending Walls home while Raley gained another 90 feet. Manuel Margot made Toronto pay for that error with a cue shot to first base enough to put Raley in play and extend Tampa Bay’s lead.
“Sometimes you have to push it a bit and I thought the guys do that,” said manager Kevin Cash. “There were a lot of heads-up baserunning games. Lots of steals, I finish second. The Walls steal in third place was huge.”
Shortstop Wander Franco also stole two bags, giving him a team-best 17. After recording 10 steals in his first two seasons, Franco is on track to become the first Ray to surpass 50 stolen bases since outfielder Carl Crawford did so in 2009.
Tampa Bay leads the majors in steals (62) and tries (78), but his baserunning brilliance extends to certain hustle plays that don’t appear on any statistical leaderboards.
For example, after Randy Arozarena leveled the score at 1-1 with an RBI single, Brandon Lowe sniffed the dirt on what should have been the second out-of-frame pitch. But instead of giving up, Lowe went first as the ball bounced past Kirk.
The rush paid off as the ball spun back to the first baseline. After Kirk saved the throw at the chalk line, his throw to the sack was too late and Lowe was declared safe after review. Then Harold Ramírez’s sharp grounder at second base could have been a double play late in the inning, but the ball was bobbled by Cavan Biggio and Ramírez threw the throw to first base, allowing Arozarena to get home at the fielder’s request .
“It’s easy to assume that if you swing and miss you don’t stand a chance, but Brandon recognized that and shifted into gear,” Cash said. “Harold, he’s always so good at getting to the baseline.”
By the start of the fourth inning, the Rays had a 5-1 lead, knocking Manoah out of the game and trailing starter Zach Eflin, who had six hits and two walks over seven innings. The right-hand man said he wasn’t feeling well when he woke up this morning and knew it was going to be a “grinder day” for him. Though Eflin failed to post a strikeout, his skills allowed him to land 12 groundouts, including two double plays against speedy Kevin Kiermaier.
Eflin became the Rays’ first starting pitcher since Mark Hendrickson in 2004 to go at least seven innings without a strikeout.
“I honestly think it’s pretty impressive to go seven innings clean [strikeouts]’ said Eflin. “I think that’s harder than seven innings and ten strikeouts. It was just one of those days where I was praying they would go for doubles games and just make contact early on.”
Next up for the Rays is a three-game home streak against the Dodgers starting Friday. The two powerhouses have not met since the 2020 World Series, when Los Angeles won in six games.
Cash said he has many fond memories of this autumn classic despite the loss. Arozarena put on one of the best postseason performances in MLB history in his debut year. When asked on Wednesday what he remembers most from that magical run, he made it clear that defeat still hurts.
“What I remember is that we lost to them,” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “It’s a completely different team. I’m looking forward to this weekend. … 2020 was 2020 and it’s in the past.”