Thursday, 4 a.m.
Need to stop a losing streak? Call Shane.
Need to forget a dismal night? Call Shane.
Need to quiet a scary offense? Call Shane.
More and more, that is the battle cry of the Tampa Bay Rays. When you hit a bump in the road, when you lose control of the wheel, call Shame McClanahan. As he says, he likes "to right the ship."
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McClanahan was superb again Wednesday night, calming the Blue Jays' potent offense and guiding the Rays to a 7-3 victory. McClanahan, who is 8-0 and leads the majors in victories, went seven innings of four-hit, one run baseball to help balance a team that had lost 20-1 the night before.
"He's put himself in that category of guys you can lean on," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. “I think most impressive was the efficiency. That lineup knows him very well and they’re a bunch of really good hitters. He kept then pretty quiet. It speaks to the stuff he had. They know what he’s doing and there wasn’t much they could prevent."
The Rays' offense, too, bounced back from their lousy Wednesday night effort. Wander Franco had three hits. Manuel Margot, Christian Bethancourt and Jose Siri all had two.
Siri and Luke Raley each homered. It was Raley's 10th homer.
The Rays' only real rough spot came in the eighth inning, when Jason Adam came on in relief. The Blue Jays treated him like outfielder Luke Raley had come back in, getting a home run, triple, a single and a walk in a third of an inning.
The Rays are now 36-`15 on the season. They've hit 97 home runs, leading the majors.
Tampa Bay and Toronto play the fourth game of their series today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Zach Eflin will start for the Rays against Alek Manoah.
