The Tampa Bay Rays capped off a perfect homestand Wednesday afternoon, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0.
Shane McClanahan was dominant in his seventh start of the season as he shut down the Toronto offense, giving up just two hits to earn his fourth win of the season. McClanahan has now thrown 16 and two-thirds scoreless innings over his last three starts, looking every bit like the ace the Rays expected him to be this season.
The Rays would break through offensively in the fourth inning. Jonny DeLuca drove in the game’s first run with a clutch RBI hit before Chandler Simpson added another run-scoring knock later in the inning to push the lead to 2-0. The Rays would add an insurance run in the eighth after a Toronto error allowed another run to cross the plate, making it 3-0.
McClanahan, who gave way to Kevin Kelly in the sixth inning, was outstanding, throwing five and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball with four strikeouts in his sixth outing of the season.
Ian Seymour came on to work for the Rays in the ninth and set the Blue Jays down to help the Rays get their sixth consecutive win and earn his first save of the season.
The Rays, now winners in 12 of their last 13 games, have allowed just 17 runs in those last 13 games.
“I mean, he mixed it up really, really well today, and they threw a pretty tough right-handed lineup against him, but he got in rhythm, and, you know, never came out of it,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said about Shane McClanahan’s performance. “The strike throwing was pretty elite, but the defense work behind him was pretty elite, so everything was really good for Shane. Happy for him.”
The defense Cash was referring to was some excellent work by Johny DeLuca in center and Ben Williamson at second base.
With the win, the Rays improve to 24-12 on the season and have the second-best record in the American League.
“Yeah, they’re on a good run, no doubt,” Cash said about his team’s hot stretch. “We can throw up zeros, or one, two, run ball games. We’re in every one of them, but I mean, they’re setting the bar really high for themselves, and they should all be feeling pretty good about how individually they’re contributors.”
The Rays used five pitchers in the four-hit shutout of the Blue Jays: McClanahan, Kevin Kelly, Garrett Cleavinger, Bryan Baker, and Ian Seymour. Once again, the Rays pitching staff has become one of the hottest units in the MLB.
As the Rays have done all season, they matched the pitcher to the hitter. Cash said the Rays will continue to play the matchup game.
“We’re going to play matchups and use guys, and the bullpen has been used heavily, but I’m just glad to see Seymour get those last three outs.”
The Rays will now head out on the road for a seven-game road trip that will take them to Boston this weekend and then to Toronto.
With the way the Rays are playing, Tampa Bay has suddenly become one of the most complete teams in the American League heading into the middle of May.