Aranda homers in third straight game as Rays beat Blue Jays to complete sweep

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jonathan Aranda homered in a third straight game and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Aranda gave the Rays a 2-1 lead on his two-run drive against Zach Pop in the sixth inning. He has connected for six of his 10 career homers against the Blue Jays.

“Very well-rounded weekend for me personally and the team as well,” Aranda said through an interpreter.

Pinch hitter Christopher Morel had an seventh-inning sacrifice fly off Génesis Cabrera (3-3) before Brandon Lowe's solo homer in the eighth made it 4-2. Lowe has 20 homers this season.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the Blue Jays within 4-3 with a single for his third hit of the game in the ninth off Edwin Uceta, who recovered to get his fourth save.

Guerrero had consecutive three-hit games, has a major league-leading 21 of them this season and is hitting .327. His RBI gave him 100 on the year to go with 30 homers.

“What else can I say about Vlad?” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “Thirty and 100. I think it’s great. It’s a great personal kind of accomplishment.”

Schneider was ejected in the seventh for arguing balls and strikes.

The Rays have won four in a row to get back to .500 at 78-78. It's their longest winning streak since a four-game run since May 15-18.

The announced crowd was 20,567, giving the Rays a home season total of 1,337,739. Tampa Bay started the day averaging 16,465, which was the third-lowest in the majors, ahead of Miami and Oakland. The Rays drew 1,440,301 in 2023.

Ernie Clement's seventh-inning run-scoring single off Kevin Kelly (5-2) tied it at 2. Leo Jiménez put the Blue Jays up 1-0 on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Shane Baz in the fourth.

Baz gave up one run and four hits over six innings. His team-record streak of five consecutive starts of five or more innings and allowing three hits or fewer ended.

Ryan Yarbrough followed Blue Jays opener Ryan Burr in the second and allowed one run and two hits in four innings in his first outing against his former team.

Lowe was selected as the winner of the 2024 Don Zimmer Award Most Valuable Player award by the Tampa Bay chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

The Rays hold a $10.5 million team option on Lowe for 2025.

“My family’s here,” Lowe said. “We’re comfortable being here everyday. We love the staff, love the people that are here. If we’re back, great, and if not find a way to be comfortable there, I guess.”

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP Chris Bassitt (10-13, 4.16 ERA) and Boston RHP Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.21 ERA) are Monday night’s starters.

Rays: RHP Ryan Pepiot (8-6, 3.64 ERA) will face LHP Tarik Skubal (17-4, 2.48 ERA), the 2024 AL Cy Young Award front-runner, on Tuesday night in Detroit. “He’s had a fantastic season,” Pepiot said. “I’m glad I don’t have to hit against him. It’d be a good test and it will be a lot of fun.”

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