Rays 6, Blue Jays 2: Playoff bound!

The Rays came into tonight’s game with a magic number of two. They left tonight with a magic number of zero, as their convincing win over Toronto, coupled with Cleveland’s loss to Washington, gave them their first postseason berth since 2013.

This is the lineup that pulled it off:

Tyler Glasnow continued to impress since his return, cruising through the front part of the game, working 4.1 shutout innings and giving up no hits and two walks versus four strikeouts. After getting stretched to 65 pitches and five up-downs, he should be just about stretched out for the playoffs.

Meanwhile in Washington, the Nats took an early 2-0 lead against the Indians.

Back in St. Pete, the Rays got on the board in the third. Joey Wendle started the rally with a single to right. One out later, Tommy Pham hit one on a rope that cleared the wall in left.

2-0 Rays.

in the fourth, Nate Lowe drew a walk and moved to second on a groundout. Willy Adames drove him home with a single to center.

3-0 Rays.

Back to Washington, and the Indians briefly tied the game at two.

In St. Pete, after Glasnow got Reece McGuire to ground out on his 65th pitch of the night to start the fifth, Kevin Cash made the call for Colin Poche. Poche did give up a ground rule double to left from Teoscar Hernandez almost immediately to break up the no-hitter, but he settled in nicely to get a couple flyouts to end the frame.

From the “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before” file, Cavan Biggio punched a bunt double out past the shortstop position in the sixth inning.

Poche came back to get Grichuk on a pop out, and struck out Rowdy Tellez looking. For the day, he worked 1.2 innings scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.

In Washington, the Nats took control of the game in the bottom of the sixth, putting up a five-spot to give them a 7-2 edge.

The Rays mounted another challenge in the seventh but were unable to tack on any insurance runs. A double by KK and a single and error from Willy Adames put runners on second and third. Joey Wendle couldn’t get the job done, striking out on three pitches. An Austin Meadows walk then loaded the bases for Tommy Pham. Pham got a pitch to hit, but grounded it sharply to third to start a 5-4-3 double play.

Chaz Roe came on to face Vlad Jr. and gave up a hard single. It would be his only hitter of the night, as Cash’s quick hook brought in Oliver Drake. Kevin Cash was not fooling around with this one.

Drake did induced McGuire to hit into a force play, but left one out over the plate to Teoscar Hernandez, whose fly ball to right scraped the back side of the wall in right on its way out. 3-2 Rays

The Rays did get some insurance in the eighth. A Travis d’Arnaud duck snort and a Nate Lowe ground rule double up the right field line put runners on second and third. Then with the infield in, Garcia grounded sharply through the shift.

4-2 Rays. They got a second insurance run on a strikeout/passed ball with Willy Adames reaching and Nate Lowe scoring.

In Washington, the Nats salted this one away.

For the Rays, Oliver Drake came back out to work the eighth and had a clean inning. For the day: 2 innings, a hit, a run, and 4 strikeouts.

Austin Meadows hit his 33rd homer of the year in the ninth to make it 6-2.

Emilio Pagan locked down the save with a clean ninth.

Now to scoreboard watch the Oakland game.