Rays' No. 5-9 hitters stay hot as club seals first 4-game-series win since '24

TORONTO -- There’s a quick way to determine if the Rays’ lineup is operating at its highest and most dangerous capacity. Start from the bottom.

If the guys who hit after Yandy Díaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero are doing well, it’s generally safe to assume the Rays are, too.

“I think that's the biggest key of all,” manager Kevin Cash said Wednesday afternoon. “Good offenses, they're able to turn the lineup over.”

The Rays did exactly that in a 4-2 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday night at Rogers Centre. They didn’t quite match their 12-run, 21-hit outburst in Tuesday’s victory, but key contributions came from all over the lineup to support a strong start by Griffin Jax.

Tampa Bay’s third straight victory against Toronto sealed the club’s first series win in a four-game set since May 13-16, 2024, snapping the second-longest streak of winless four-game series (15 straight) in franchise history.

More often than not, the Rays know they can count on their “Big Three” atop the order. When they’re getting quality at-bats and clutch hits from the rest of the group, that’s when they can get on a roll.

“It feels good. They cannot do it all the time, so I feel like as a team, we've got to help them,” outfielder Victor Mesa Jr. said. “We've got to have this half [also contribute], and I think that we're doing it.”

Indeed, they are. And this offensive uptick is coming at an interesting time. For a team that’s expected to pursue additional bats before the Trade Deadline to lengthen its lineup, Tampa Bay is currently getting as much production as any team in baseball from that group.

This month, the Rays’ No. 5-9 hitters lead the Majors in batting average (.300) and slugging percentage (.479), and they lead the American League in on-base percentage (.343).

“The ‘Big Three,’ as you'd call it -- I mean, they're amazing and they've been superheroes the whole time,” left fielder Chandler Simpson said. “If five to nine can just help out a little bit and get them up to the plate as much as possible, it would be good for us.”

Given his speed and contact-hitting ability, Simpson might be the best barometer of when the lineup is fully functional. So it should come as no surprise that he was involved in both of Tampa Bay’s rallies on Wednesday night.

With one out in the second inning, Simpson worked a walk, stole second -- the first of two steals on the night -- and scored on a single by Mesa. It continued an incredible, impactful stretch for Simpson, who is now batting .400 (24-for-60) with seven steals this month.

“Mr. July! Chandler is Mr. July,” Mesa said, smiling. “He’s so hot.”

In the sixth, Simpson came to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. Díaz had reached on a line drive to deep center that Daulton Varsho couldn’t reel in, Caminero singled, and Cedric Mullins was hit by a pitch.

Simpson lined a sacrifice fly to center, driving in Díaz, then the rest of the order kept the line moving. Mesa delivered another RBI single.

Playing through soreness in the third and fourth fingers on his left hand after a dive into second base, Taylor Walls reloaded the bases with a perfectly executed bunt. Then pinch-hitter Ben Williamson, replacing Richie Palacios against lefty Mason Fluharty, took four straight pitches to work a run-scoring walk.

“Some big hits. We had some good at-bats,” Cash said. “Ben, to come off the bench right there and be selective enough not to try to overdo anything [was big]. … Happy with the way that we put together some at-bats.”

The sustained pressure made a winner out of Jax, who bounced back from a rough second-half debut in Boston on Friday with an impressive outing against the Jays. The right-hander held Toronto to just one run on three hits and one walk while striking out five over six innings, matching his longest start since moving into the Rays’ rotation.

Jax did most of his best work with his changeup, which he threw roughly one-third of the time on Wednesday night. He finished each of his five strikeouts with the offspeed pitch, and the Jays whiffed on nine of their 17 swings while recording just one hit against it. With runners on the corners and the game tied at 1 in the fourth inning, he got Varsho to swing and miss on a nasty full-count changeup below the zone.

“That pitch was really good today. It's something that I've kind of been leaning on the past, honestly, ever since I started getting back in the rotation,” Jax said. “It's always going to be a big part of my game.”