Rays get strong start from Shane McClanahan but have to rally for win

TORONTO - For a good part of Tuesday night, the most intriguing question was whether starter Shane McClanahan, after another dominant outing, could actually be better than he was before missing two-plus seasons with arm injuries.

But by the end, the pressing issue was, how did the Rays have to work so hard for this win?

With a five-run lead in the seventh inning, the Rays seemed positioned to easily extend their torrid run and improve their American League-leading record to 28-13.

Instead, it turned into an anxious but eventually celebratory evening, as they blew that lead then rallied for two runs in the 10th and hung on for a 7-6 win.

"We won. That was really fun. That was a great atmosphere (with a Rogers Centre crowd of 41,265)," McClanahan said. "This team doesn't quit. So, kind of hit that reset button after that whatever inning happened, and these guys fought all game long. It's really cool to see."

The Rays have now won 10 of their last 11, 16 of 18 (matching their best 18-game streak in franchise history) and 26 of 34 in climbing to a season-high 15 games over .500. They have won six straight series for the first since August 2023.

They started the 10th with Cedric Mullins the runner on second, then moving up on a fly out. Taylor Walls, expecting a bunt sign and joking his "eyes lit up" when he didn't get it, slapped a first-pitch single to right for a 6-5 lead.

The Rays added the important second run, as Walls advanced on a walk then alertly on a wild pitch. Jonathan Aranda pushed his American League-leading RBI total to 33 with a sacrifice fly.

"I've said it before, you've always got to keep fighting. You've always got to try to keep winning the game," Aranda said via team interpreter Kevin Vera. "Obviously, Toronto ultimately tied it up at 5-5, but we were back to square one, so we had to regroup and then do our job.

"And that's what we did. ... We got the win. Obviously, very happy with the fight that we showed."

They needed to rally because of a rare collapse from a bullpen that had been the majors' best over the last three weeks and had allowed five runs over its last 47 ⅓ innings.

Tuesday, Casey Legumina and Cole Sulser - with an error by third baseman Junior Caminero factoring in - gave up five in a seven-batter span in the seventh.

"They've been really good," manager Kevin Cash said. "Maybe it was our turn as an offense to pick them up a little bit."

Legumina allowed a one-out single and a two-out double for a run, then was replaced by Sulser, who had made 10 straight scoreless appearances. Sulser walked No. 9 hitter Brandon Valenzuela - "the at-bat you'd like to have back," Cash said - then allowed a one-run single to George Springer and a two-run double to Yohendrick Pinango to cut the lead to 5-4.

Cash next brought in Kevin Kelly, who also has been throwing well, to face Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Kelly got the ground ball he wanted. But Caminero, who had a rough day overall, tried to make the play in front of Walls, the more sure-handed shortstop, and the ball glanced off his glove for his second error, allowing the tying run to score.

Cash had a succinct take on the play - "let Walls catch the ball" - and then took Caminero out for defense in the 10th.

McClanahan was dazzling, allowing only a walk (on an Automated Ball-Strike challenge reversal) through the first four innings and just one single in the fifth, striking out a season-high-matching seven.

In doing so, he extended his career-best streaks of scoreless starts (of five or more innings) to four, tying Drew Rasmussen for the team record, and innings to 21 ⅔.

McClanahan lowered his ERA to 2.27, his opponents' batting average to .168 and his WHIP (walk and hits per innings pitched) to 0.98, while slightly increasing his fastball velocity to 95.7 mph and clocking as high as 97.8.

"He had everything going again," Cash said. "He just faced a lot of those guys and still, one hit. Just not a lot of hard contact, filled up the strike zone for the most part. He was nasty."

And tracking to keep getting better.

"I think that's kind of what a lot of us thought was, it's just going to take a little bit of time," Cash said. "We're a month and a half in, pushing two months, and he's definitely (going) in the right direction."

McClanahan, as usual, wasn't overly pleased, saying he felt like it was "a little bit more of a grind," perhaps from being sick for a few days, and took a lot of battling.

"It's called competing my butt off, and that's just what it is. When big moments get big, just got to compete," he said, noting he didn't feel he did well the first month of the season.

"I'm actually really enjoying competing. I'm starting to feel like myself out there in terms of that edge, I guess."

And looking like his old self, or even better, in a lot of ways.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 10:57 PM.