Armstrong, Alexander step up to bridge gap in Rays' rotation

TORONTO -- The Rays received some surprising news coming out of the All-Star break, learning that starter Ryan Pepiot had sustained a right knee infection that forced him to be hospitalized in New York. Pepiot was sent back home on Tuesday after being discharged on Monday.

With Pepiot on the 15-day injured list and 10 straight games scheduled to start the second half, the Rays had to figure out a way to fill his spot in the rotation. They turned to right-hander Shawn Armstrong as an opener, hoping the familiar role would end his tough-luck streak, and summoned lefty Tyler Alexander from Triple-A Durham after an up-and-down stint in Tampa Bay’s rotation to start the season.

Both played their parts to perfection on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre. Armstrong worked two scoreless innings and Alexander put up three more zeros, while Brandon Lowe’s two-run homer off José Berríos in the fifth inning was the Rays’ biggest hit in a 4-2 win over the Blue Jays. The victory pushed Tampa Bay back above .500, at 51-50.

“Happy for Armstrong,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Shawn, he’s had a rough go here as of late, it feels like. That’s got to feel good for him. Felt good for us.

“Tyler Alexander, kind of short notice: ‘We need you.’ He comes up here and [it was] the second time he’s pitched really, really well here in this building.”

Coming off an outstanding season in the Rays' bullpen, Armstrong was off to a solid start this year before a brutal stretch began about a month ago. The veteran reliever gave up 16 runs on 22 hits and six walks over his previous 10 appearances, a run of poor performance and bad luck that baffled Armstrong, pitching coach Kyle Snyder and his teammates.

“He’s been kind of the recipient of some of the softest hits that I think I’ve seen in a very long time,” Lowe said. “We know what he is. We know what he’s got. We saw it last year.”

Sometimes, Armstrong was hit hard. More often, he was giving up bloops and bleeders that turned into runs. During a seven-outing stretch from June 18-July 7, he gave up multiple runs in five appearances -- more than all of last season, when he pitched in 39 games for the Rays.

“Baseball is gonna baseball. We’ve said that all year,” Armstrong said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow, because you don’t really know what adjustment to make. But I hope that this is a turn of events, for sure.”

As unforgiving and unpredictable as that stretch proved to be, Armstrong didn’t stop looking for ways out of it. He dove into his mechanics and made a few tweaks to improve his momentum down the mound while maintaining his arm slot. He worked with Snyder to adjust the grip on his sweeper, giving him a pitch with more movement and less velocity than his other offerings.

It all seems to be working. Two of his past three appearances were scoreless, and he set the tone for Tuesday’s victory by striking out four while allowing only two baserunners in his two innings of work.

“'Needed it' would be an understatement,” said Armstrong, who has a 1.21 ERA in 15 career appearances as an opener. “It’s not one simple formula fix-all. This is a confidence-booster for me, leaving here, and I feel like I’ve thrown the ball pretty well over the last four outings. I just want to keep building on it.”

Then came Alexander. The lefty's last appearance in this ballpark -- a perfect-game bid he carried into the eighth inning on May 17 -- was the highlight of a two-month term in the Rays’ rotation in which he logged a 6.19 ERA.

After seven weeks with Durham, Alexander rejoined the Rays in New York on Monday morning and was recalled on Tuesday afternoon. He stepped in ably, allowing only three singles as he struck out four over three innings.

“I like pitching here,” Alexander said, smiling. “Historically, I’ve done well. It was good. It’s good to be back.”

Reliever Manuel Rodríguez gave up back-to-back homers to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Justin Turner in the sixth, but Kevin Kelly, Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks protected the Rays’ lead the rest of the way.

Lowe's big swing created that lead. He got revenge after Daulton Varsho robbed him of extra bases in the third inning by smashing a Berríos breaking ball out to right field, his third homer in his past five games.

“We were having good at-bats,” Cash said. “We just couldn’t find a way to get that big hit until Brandon came through the second time with the home run.”