Daulton Varsho’s walk-off grand slam ends Blue Jays skid with 5-3 win over Rays

TORONTO — Daulton Varsho hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning as the Toronto Blue Jays rallied past the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Wednesday.

Kazuma Okamoto’s sacrifice fly in the eighth tied the game 1-1 as Toronto (19-24) snapped a three-game losing skid.

Dylan Cease struck out nine over seven innings, allowing just the one run on three hits and three walks in a quality start for the Blue Jays.

Louis Varland, Tyler Rogers, Mason Fluharty and Jeff Hoffman (2-2) came on in relief.

Ben Williamson and Yandy Diaz had RBI singles in the 10th inning to give Tampa Bay (28-14) a 3-1 lead with three outs to go. Richie Palacios’s RBI single in the seventh inning opened the scoring.

Griffin Jax allowed four hits and four walks over five scoreless innings for the Rays. Hunter Bigge, Garrett Cleavinger, Kevin Kelly, Bryan Baker, Cole Sulser and Aaron Brooks (0-1) came out of the visitors’ bullpen.

Takeaways

Rays: Aggressive baserunning helped Tampa Bay put pressure on Toronto’s relievers, especially in the 10th. Both Simpson and Williamson were able to get Hoffman’s attention during the climactic inning, with Williamson stealing second base.

Blue Jays: Toronto’s at bats were better in the finale of the three-game series, but they failed to push a runner across home until the eighth. The Blue Jays finished with six hits and 10 walks, stranding nine runners on base.

Key moment

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Okamoto drew walks, joining ghost runner George Springer, to load the bases with one out in the 10th for Varsho.

Key stat

It was the third extra-innings and third walkoff win for the Blue Jays this season, and first with the game tied in the eighth inning.

Up next

Toronto has Thursday off and Trey Yesavage will start for the Blue Jays on Friday when they visit the Detroit Tigers.

The Rays host the Miami Marlins in a three-game set starting Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2026.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press