TORONTO — Drew Rasmussen combined with four relievers on a three-hitter. Brandon Lowe and Ji-Man Choi homered and the Tampa Bay Rays became the first AL team to reach 90 wins by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 Tuesday night.
After losing four of their previous five, the East-leading Rays hit the 90-win mark for the eighth time — all in the past 14 seasons.
Tampa Bay (90-55) stopped a two-game losing streak. The Rays have not lost three in a row since July 25-28.
Toronto began the day in the AL wild card lead, one game ahead of the New York Yankees and Boston. The Blue Jays had scored 52 runs in winning their previous four games
Rasmussen (3-1) allowed two hits in five innings.
Toronto threatened in the fourth when George Springer doubled and Marcus Semien walked. Rasumussen got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to line out to center, struck out Bo Bichette and retired Teoscar Hernández on a liner.
Pete Fairbanks pitched around a leadoff single in the sixth, JT Chargois benefitted from right fielder Randy Arozarena’s diving catch on Corey Dickerson’s liner for the final out of the seventh and David Robertson worked a 1-2-3 eighth.
Facing the top of the order, Andrew Kittredge pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.
Choi’s leadoff drive in the second, his 10th home run this season, was the only run allowed by José Berríos (11-8), who lost for the first time in four starts despite scattering four hits over seven innings.
Berríos entered 0-2 with a 7.15 ERA in four games against the Rays. He faced them for the first time since May 2019, when he was with Minnesota.
Lowe hit his 34th home run of the season in the eighth on the first pitch he saw from left-hander Tim Mayza.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays manager Kevin Cash said SS Wander Franco (right hamstring) is progressing well and could start taking swings off a tee Wednesday. Franco is eligible to return Sept. 21. … Cash said there’s no clarity on the status of RHP Chris Archer (left hip) after Archer was examined by a team doctor in Florida. Archer left Saturday’s start against Deteoit after four innings because of soreness in his hip.
ROSTER MOVES
Rays RHPs Shawn Armstrong and David Hess cleared waivers and were assigned outright to Triple-A Durham.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays LHP Robbie Ray (11-5, 2.69) gets the start against Rays RHP Michael Wacha (3-4, 5.37) in Wednesday’s series finale. Ray is 1-1 with a 2.00 ERA in four starts against Tampa Bay this season.
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