Blue Jays, Bo Bichette snap Rays' historic 13-game winning streak
All good things must come to an end, and on Friday, the Toronto Blue Jays halted the Tampa Bay Rays' historic 13-0 start, handing them their first loss of the 2023 campaign.
Falling 6-3 to the Blue Jays, the Rays' pursuit of the St. Louis Maroons' record ends after 14 games. Tampa Bay walks away tied with the Milwaukee Brewers (1987) and Atlanta Braves (1982) for the second-longest winning streak to begin a season. Meanwhile, the Maroons' 20-0 start to the 1884 season remains at the top of the list in the history books.
Toronto came out on top thanks to a strong effort at the plate from shortstop Bo Bichette and a solid pitching performance from starter Jose Berrios.
Bichette not only finished 5-for-5 on the night with an RBI but also tallied the 500th career hit of his young career. In his 407th game, the 25-year-old became the fastest Blue Jays player to reach the 500-hit milestone, overtaking the previous leaders, Vernon Wells and Shannon Stewart, who accomplished the feat in 432 games.
Meanwhile, Berrios pitched five strong innings against the Rays, allowing only one earned run off four hits while striking out six to earn the win.
The victory for the Blue Jays helped them improve to 9-5, while the loss dropped Tampa Bay to 13-1.
After the game, Rays manager Kevin Cash expressed gratitude for the team's impressive start and wasn't worried about a possible letdown now that the streak has ended.
"Excited for the guys," Cash told reporters, via Bally Sports. "Just really impressed with the way they went about it. Very confident that they'll be good to go tomorrow."
Tampa Bay will look to return to the win column on Saturday, taking on the Blue Jays in the second game of their weekend series in Toronto at 3:07 p.m. ET.
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