Yandy Diaz, right, is congratulated by Tampa Bay teammate Isaac Paredes after hitting a three-run homer in the second inning Thursday against Toronto. Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP
TORONTO — Yandy Diaz hit a three-run home run and the Tampa Bay Rays – starting an unprecedented nine Latin American position players on Roberto Clemente Day – routed Toronto 11-0 on Thursday to pull within a half-game of the Blue Jays in the American League wild-card race.
Clemente, the late Hall of Fame outfielder from Puerto Rico, was a two-time World Series winner and NL MVP who played 18 seasons with Pittsburgh. Tampa Bay’s nine starting position players came from five countries: Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.
Shane McClanahan returned from the injured list to pitch five scoreless innings.
Isaac Paredes hit a solo home run and added an RBI single as the Rays (80-63) won the fifth and final game of the series, after Toronto (81-63) won three of the first four. The teams will play a four-game series at Tampa Bay starting next Thursday.
Seattle (80-62), which holds one of the three AL wild-card spots, was idle Thursday, but moved percentage points ahead of Toronto.
Diaz homered in a four-run second inning. Paredes made it 5-0 with a leadoff blast in the seventh, his 19th of the season.
Randy Arozarena had three hits, including an RBI single in the ninth, and Manuel Margot added a three-run double later in the six-run frame as Tampa Bay piled on against right-handers Trevor Richards and David Phelps.
Activated off the injured list after missing 15 games because of a left shoulder impingement, McClanahan (12-5) allowed three hits, struck out five and walked one. The left-hander pitched around a pair of singles in the first inning, then retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced. He lowered his ERA to 2.13.
All nine Rays position players, as well as base coaches Chris Prieto at first and Rodney Linares at third, wore No. 21 to honor Clemente.
WHITE SOX 8, GUARDIANS 2: Elvis Andrus hit one of Chicago’s five home runs off rookie Hunter Gaddis – and backed up a pregame swipe at the Guardians – as the White Sox cut Cleveland’s lead in the AL Central to three games with a victory in a makeup game at Cleveland.
Andrus connected in the fifth inning off Gaddis (0-2), who became the first Cleveland pitcher to allow five homers in a game since Luis Tiant in 1969.
On Wednesday, Andrus raised some eyebrows by telling reporters he expected the first-place Guardians “to crumble, the closer we get.”
Gavin Sheets hit a two-run homer in the second inning to start Chicago’s home run barrage against Gaddis. Andrew Vaughn, Yoán Moncada and Yasmani Grandal joined Andrus by hitting shots off the right-hander.
Lance Lynn (7-5) limited the Guardians to two run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander is 5-0 in his last seven starts.
Cleveland had its winning streak stopped at six as it began a run of nine straight games against the White Sox and Minnesota Twins, the club’s two closest pursuers in one of baseball’s only tight division races.
NOTES
METS: Sandy Alderson will step down as president when the team finds his replacement.
The 74-year-old Alderson, a cancer survivor who has served two stints as New York’s general manager, will move to a new role as special advisor to owners Steve and Alex Cohen.
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