Ray flirts with no-no, wants to 'keep it rolling'

For nearly seven innings on Sunday afternoon in St. Petersburg, it looked like Robbie Ray would have a shot to join Dave Stieb as the only pitchers in Blue Jays history to throw a no-hitter. Stieb still stands alone, though, as Yandy Díaz's double broke up the no-hit bid on one of the finest days of Ray’s career.

Toronto’s 3-1 win at Tropicana Field was an exclamation point on a fantastic first half to the 2021 season for Ray. Brought back on a one-year, $8 million deal this past offseason after struggling mightily with his control in 2020, Ray and his turnaround have been a spectacle.

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“It felt really good from the beginning,” Ray said. “I knew that, no matter what, I felt good on the mound. I felt good about my pitches and then it was about the fifth inning when I thought, ‘OK, maybe this is a possibility.’”

In the dugout, manager Charlie Montoyo was well aware of what was transpiring. He was already working over the big decision he had coming if Ray’s pitch count climbed with the no-no still alive. He had 115 pitches in mind, then 120.

Behind the plate, Danny Jansen was in rhythm with Ray all day long as the power lefty hit every spot that Jansen put up.

“Oh, man. Robbie Ray was bringing it today,” said Jansen, who homered in the win. “He was attacking the zone on pitch one each at-bat, getting ahead. Robbie has been on the attack all year, so it’s not too surprising to me that he got that far today and that close.”

Leaning almost entirely on his fastball and slider, Ray delivered all 103 of his pitches with his trademark grunt, which echoed throughout Tropicana Field. After a two-out walk in the first inning, Ray retired 17 Rays batters in a row, finishing his outing with 11 strikeouts over seven frames. That walk was the only one issued by Ray, whose control has been at the heart of his success this season as he pounds the zone and lets his incredible raw stuff go to work.

"We really wanted to find a way to win that one, but Robbie Ray and the Blue Jays had other plans,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “You could see from the side, it was just a really electric fastball that he commanded so well.”

There’s been a steady sense of momentum to Ray’s season that mirrors his start on Sunday. Like a metronome ticking, Ray kept a steady, aggressive rhythm throughout the game, hammering away at the edges of the zone with his fastball before ripping off one of the best sliders he’s shown in a Blue Jays uniform. His season has benefitted from that same steady build, with Ray pointing to a steady, predictable routine as one of the core reasons for his success.

That’s why Montoyo said following Sunday’s win that there’s a good chance Ray comes right back around for Friday’s start against the Rangers, keeping him on a regular schedule while getting the rest of the starters some added rest.

“I’m just looking to keep it rolling,” Ray said. “I feel really strong. My body feels great and my arm feels great. My mechanics are on time. I’m just looking to keep it rolling into the second half and just build like I have all season so far.”

Now over the hundred-inning mark through 17 starts with a 3.13 ERA, Ray has earned the right to be considered Toronto’s No. 2 behind Hyun Jin Ryu, and a good one. Sustaining that status is the next step, of course, but his season has been so consistent that there’s little reason to suspect he won’t. Ray has failed to go five innings just twice this season, and has pitched six or more innings in seven of his last eight outings.

“We knew he had a chance to be that guy. That’s why we signed him early,” Montoyo said. “What he’s done has been above what we thought he was going to do. He’s actually an All-Star. He deserves a chance to go to the All-Star Game. He’s been really, really good.”

This win brings the Blue Jays to the All-Star break at 45-42, a record that doesn’t represent the talent of their lineup but does show how the club’s weaknesses -- mainly the bullpen and defense -- have held them back from a true run. Snatching one win from the Rays in this series beats being swept, but Toronto will need to perform better against AL East rivals and Wild Card contenders in the second half to close the gap.

The Blue Jays showed how and how not to do that in this Tampa Bay series, playing some fundamentally inconsistent baseball through their first two losses before cleaning it up in the finale. Talent isn’t often the issue for the Blue Jays, but playing that tight brand of baseball that makes the Rays so good has continued to elude them at times. With Ray doing what he did on the mound, though, not much else mattered.