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Taylor Walls of the Rays scores ahead of the throw to Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk during Tampa Bay’s 6-3 win Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Chris O’Meara/Associated Press
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Zach Eflin became the major leagues’ third seven-game winner, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat struggling Alek Manoah and Toronto 6-3 on Thursday to take three of four from the Blue Jays.
Eflin (7-1) allowed one run and six hits in seven innings as the major league-leading Rays (37-15) stole seven bases for the second time this season and improved to 24-5 at home. He joined teammate Shane McClanahan (8-0) and Minnesota’s Joe Ryan (7-1) as MLB’s winningest pitchers.
Manoah (1-5), a 16-game winner last year who finished third in AL Cy Young voting, extended his winless streak to nine starts after giving up five runs, three hits and five walks over three innings, with six strikeouts. He threw just 44 of 87 pitches for strikes and his ERA climbed to 5.53. The Rays stole five bases while he was on the mound.
Toronto (26-25) has lost nine of 11 and is 8-15 in May. The Blue Jays are 6-15 in division play after going 43-33 last year. They trail the Rays by 10 1/2 games, and the teams do not meet again until six games during the final 10 days of the season.
TIGERS 7, WHITE SOX 2: Alex Faedo struck out a career-high 10 batters in six innings and Detroit beat the visiting White Sox.
Faedo (1-2) has 22 strikeouts and one walk in four starts this season. The 27-year-old right-hander allowed two runs on three hits against the White Sox.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CARDINALS 2, REDS 1: Nolan Gorman hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning and scored on a wild pitch, helping St. Louis win at Cincinnati.
Miles Mikolas (3-1) won his third straight decision, allowing five hits over seven scoreless innings, which matched his season high. He struck out five and walked none.
MARLINS 7, ROCKIES 6: Ezequiel Tovar singled through a five-man infield during a ninth-inning downpour, lifting Colorado over visiting Miami after the Rockies wasted a four-run lead in the top of the inning.
Huascar Brazobán (0-1) walked Kris Bryant and Elias Díaz on four pitches each, retired Randal Grichuk on a flyout and after getting ahead of Ryan McMahon 0-2, threw four straight balls that loaded the bases. The Marlins moved right fielder Garrett Hampson to the infield and Tovar hit a chopper past diving third baseman Jean Segura into left field.
PADRES 8, NATIONALS 6: Rougned Odor hit a three-run homer off Hunter Harvey with two outs in the ninth inning as San Diego won at Washington to stop a steak of five straight series losses.
Jake Cronenworth and Juan Soto singled leading off the ninth. Harvey (2-2) struck out Xander Bogaerts and Matt Carpenter, and Odor homered on an 1-0 fastball, lining the ball just inside the right-field foul pole. Odor also hit a two-run double and had five RBI, one short of his career high. He has homered in consecutive games and has 10 hits in his last 12 games as he subs for the injured Manny Machado.
Soto reached base five times on four walks and a single.
NOTES
ATHLETICS MOVE: Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says a vote on the Oakland Athletics’ prospective move to Las Vegas could take place when owners meet from June 13-15 in New York.
“It’s possible that a relocation vote could happen as early as June,” Manfred said Thursday. “It’s very difficult to have a timeline for Oakland until there’s actually a deal to be considered. There is a relocation process internally they need to go through, and we haven’t even started that process.”
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo said Wednesday that legislative leaders and the Athletics had reached a tentative agreement on a $1.5 billion stadium funding plan that would lure the franchise to Las Vegas. A funding bill still must be approved by the Legislature.
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