Rays escape Boston, get back to their winning ways in beating Blue Jays

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Jul 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

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TORONTO — For all the things the Tampa Bay Rays did poorly or didn’t do at all during their lost weekend at Fenway Park that resulted in a four-game sweep by the Red Sox — and there were plenty — manager Kevin Cash said Monday afternoon there actually was a simple solution.

Getting the heck out of Boston.

“Running into the wrong team at the wrong time — I think ultimately that is what’s taken place,” Cash said, happy to have shifted venues to Toronto’s Rogers Centre. “Boston right now is playing like the best team in baseball. When you go off and reel off 13 in a row, a lot of things are going your way. I give them credit. They’re creating a lot of that.

“But I’m confident our guys will get going.”

That they did with a performance in a 7-1 win over the Blue Jays that looked much more familiar and fitting of the team with an American League-best 57-42 record and, at the least a 1 1/2-game East division over the New York Yankees, who were playing Pittsburgh. The Rays also snapped a season-high five-game losing streak.

After a quartet of rough starts (composite ERA 9.50) in Boston, veteran Nick Martinez, coming off his first All-Star appearance, delivered the kind of professional outing they needed, scattering six hits over six one-run innings. Relievers Cam Booser, Casey Legumina and Bryan Baker finished.

And after wasting repeated opportunities against the Red Sox — including a staggering 0-for-15 showing Sunday with runners in scoring position — the Rays delivered a strong team effort on Monday, with nearly everyone in the lineup contributing.

Victor Mesa Jr. homered in a third straight game, and Cedric Mullins and Nick Fortes also went deep. Junior Caminero rapped three hits and drove in two runs, twice scoring Yandy Diaz, who after a 1 for 16 Boston series rapped two hits and reached on an error.

Jonathan Aranda, also quiet against the Red Sox, singled in a run. Taylor Walls doubled and scored one run, and bunted to help set up another.

Mesa, who went deep Saturday and raced around the bases Sunday for an inside-the-park homer, got them started Monday with a 412-foot second-inning blast off Blue Jays All-Star starter Dylan Cease.

They made it 2-0 when Walls led off the third with a double to left-center, went to third on Cease’s errant pickoff throw and scored on Aranda’s one-out single.

After the Jays got one in the fourth, with George Springer doing much of the work, the Rays got the kind of break they didn’t seem to get all weekend in Boston — like two errors in the same inning — to add two runs in the fifth.

Catcher Nick Fortes led off with an infield single, then advanced to second on a throwing error by Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto and third on a Walls bunt. He scored when Diaz’s crisp grounder rolled right through shortstop Andres Gimenez’s legs. They got another when Diaz stole second and raced home on Caminero’s single.

Mullins extended the lead to 5-1 in the sixth with his 12th homer as a Ray. Caminero drove in Diaz again in the eighth, and Fortes homered in the ninth to cap their scoring.

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