SEATTLE -- The Rays saw a lot of Robbie Ray last season. Too much, if you ask manager Kevin Cash. Because just about every time the left-hander took the mound for Toronto against Tampa Bay, he burnished his candidacy for the American League Cy Young Award.

“We saw Robbie more than we would have liked last year,” remarked Cash before Ray started against the Rays in Thursday’s series opener at T-Mobile Park. “Happy that we're only going to see him once.”

This time, the Rays made the most of their one opportunity against Ray. Mike Zunino capped a big fourth inning with a three-run homer, left-hander Shane McClanahan outpitched the reigning AL Cy Young winner, and the Rays ran their winning streak to a season-high four games in a 4-3 victory over the Mariners.

“He had his way with us last year,” said Cash after the Rays’ 11th win in their past 15 games. “We had enough to have a crooked number, a big inning.”

Ray faced Tampa Bay six times last season, more than he pitched against any other opponent. In those six outings, he put together a 2.33 ERA with 51 strikeouts and only five walks over 38 2/3 innings. As a team, the Rays hit just .196 with a .223 on-base percentage against him. He overpowered Tampa Bay’s typically high-scoring lineup with high fastballs and wicked breaking balls. As Cash put it, “He certainly pitched like a Cy Young against us.”

He had a similar look through three innings on a chilly Thursday night, but McClanahan held down Seattle’s scuffling lineup and Tampa Bay’s right-handed bats broke through in the fourth.

The inning began with Manuel Margot dropping a bunt single down the third-base line, where Eugenio Suárez was lined up too deep to make a play. Margot stole second, putting himself in position to score on a one-out single to left by Harold Ramírez. The Rays’ DH then alertly went from first to third on a single to center by Isaac Paredes. That brought up Zunino, the former Mariners catcher who provided most of the Rays’ pop against Ray a year ago.

Zunino got ahead in the count, 3-0, then fouled off a fastball up in the zone. Ray came back with another fastball, a 93.2 mph heater down and in, and Zunino crushed it 379 feet to left field.

“He's got such great stuff. He doesn't let you breathe much,” said Zunino, who’s hit three homers in five starts since hitting coach Chad Mottola helped him get his setup at the plate in order. “The fastball is always in. The slider is right under it. You've just got to pick a spot and try to hunt it.”

For all the Rays’ issues with the Toronto version of Ray, Zunino managed to club three of his 33 homers against the left-hander, accounting for half of Tampa Bay’s total homers off Ray last year. Zunino now has four homers against Ray, tied with Martín Pérez for the most he’s hit against any pitcher in his career.

“I fell behind and just left one over the plate. He's done that to me a couple times,” Ray explained. “I've just got to be better and get ahead of him."

That was all the offense the Rays could muster, but with McClanahan dealing -- despite what he described as a lack of rhythm on the mound -- and their defense sharp behind him, it was enough. McClanahan regained the Major League lead in strikeouts (47) as he held the Mariners to two runs on three hits and two walks against five strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings.

“I was really looking forward to this matchup. The guy won the Cy Young for a reason,” McClanahan said. “He's a very good pitcher, a competitor and he wants it, so it was cool to compete against him.”

McClanahan got some help in the field, including one fortuitous bounce off his left hip that caromed directly to Yandy Díaz for the first out of the third inning. Paredes made a nice play at third with runners on the corners to end the third, and second baseman Taylor Walls ranged across the infield to make an outstanding sliding stop for the second out of the fourth inning.

“I owe those guys a drink or two,” McClanahan said, smiling. “Isaac saved the game.”

McClanahan didn’t allow a hit until Jesse Winker took him deep to center to lead off the fifth, then he gave up two more singles with one out in the sixth before Jason Adam took over. Suárez bounced an RBI single off Adam’s glove, and Adam Frazier homered off Colin Poche in the seventh to make it a one-run game.

It looked like it might be the kind of game the Rays struggled to finish last season in Seattle, where they held a lead in every game they played yet suffered three walk-off losses in a four-game sweep. But Brooks Raley nailed down the final three outs, sealing the Rays’ first win in this ballpark since Aug. 11, 2019, and just their fourth since 2016.

“That's what you live for,” Raley said, grinning. “That's the best part of the game. That's fun.”