Jonathan Aranda ended Toronto starting pitcher Jose Berrios’ seven-game winning streak with one swing of the bat Friday night as the Tampa Bay Rays topped the Blue Jays 1-0 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Down 1-2 while facing Berrios (16-10) in the sixth inning, Aranda struck for the game’s lone run when he golfed an 85 mph slurve 411 feet out to right-center, his fourth homer this season and first in a week after homering in Cleveland last Friday.
Six pitchers combined to allow five hits as the Rays (76-78) recorded their 12th shutout this season and second in as many nights after a 2-0 blanking of the Boston Red Sox on Thursday.
After taking a perfect game into the eighth inning in a win over Toronto on May 17, Tyler Alexander faced the Blue Jays again in his eighth start and tossed 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He allowed two hits, a walk and hit two batters while striking out six.
Kevin Kelly (4-2) followed Alexander with 1 2/3 innings and stretched his scoreless innings streak to 22, while Hunter Bigge pitched a perfect ninth for his first career save.
The Blue Jays (73-81) managed five hits and fell to 4-7 against the Rays this season.
Berrios gave up just the solo homer — his 30th surrendered — and five other hits. He struck out six and issued a walk.
It was the right-hander’s first loss since dropping an 8-3 decision on the road against the New York Yankees on Aug. 3.
Berrios, who beat the Rays on Opening Day (March 28) and started 4-0 in 2024, pitched out of trouble in the second and third innings to keep the game scoreless.
The left-handed Alexander, meanwhile, ran into his first real problem in the fifth.
After walking leadoff batter Davis Schneider and then hitting Leo Jimenez, Alexander struck out Luis De Los Santos looking and was relieved by Kelly, who proceeded to get outs on a grounder by Jonatan Clase and a foulout by George Springer.
Toronto put the tying run on second with two outs in the eighth, but reliever Colin Poche struck out Spencer Horwitz to end the threat, the designated hitter’s fourth strikeout of the game.
Bigge struck out Schneider and pinch hitter Addison Barger before getting Nathan Lukes’ game-ending groundout for the save.
–Field Level Media
