The longest winning streak to open a season in more than three decades ended in Canada Friday as the Tampa Bay Rays fell to the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-3, at the Rogers Center. The Rays won their first 13 games of the season, tying the modern era record for best start to a season, set by the 1982 Atlanta Braves and matched by the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers.
The loss ensured that the 1884 St. Louis Maroons would continue to stand alone with the greatest start in major league history, starting the union’s only season with a clean 20-0 record.
The Rays were so dominant that a 20-game winning streak seemed almost possible. After winning their 13th game on Thursday, manager Kevin Cash said there wasn’t any part of their game they weren’t happy with.
But on Friday, the Rays looked like a different team with poor defense, inaccurate pitching and an inability to get hits at critical moments.
“We didn’t get very far out of our way tonight,” Cash told reporters in Toronto.
Now Tampa Bay, still outpacing its opponents even after losing by 68 innings this season, must make sure the fate that befell the ’87 Brewers is not repeated. A month after winning their first 13 games, the Brewers went on a 12-game losing streak.
Any hope the Rays had of establishing a new Modern Era record was shattered during a three-run stretch in the fifth inning. Colin Bucci, a relief pitcher, walked two batters on nine pitches with the bases loaded.
“One hit on your nine pitches, it’s not competitive,” Poche said.
Then second baseman Brandon Lowe made an error that cost two more runs. Poche brought the guard short, but Lowe failed to catch a routine layup from Wander Franco that could have resulted in a double play at the end of the first half.
Bo Bichette scored 5-for-5 with the Blue Jays and his second-half goal was his 500th in 407 games. No other Blue Jay player has reached 500 scores in those few games. George Springer hit a leadoff home run against Drew Rasmussen, who became the first Tampa Bay player to hit a home run this season.
It was Tampa Bay’s first regular season loss since October 5, 2022 in Boston, and their last regular season game that season (the Rays lost both games of the wild card series to the Cleveland Guardians).
Lowe said the defeat was no worse than anything else during the season.
“Every win is great,” he said. “Every loss is terrible.”
