Blue Jays maintain wild-card spot with victory over Rays

Rookie Alek Manoah rebounded from early control issues to last six innings and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Tuesday night to improve to a major league-best 16-4 in September.

There were no incidents one day after Tampa Bay's Kevin Kiermaier scooped up a data card that fell out of Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk's wristband during a play at the plate in the sixth inning and refused to give it back to the Blue Jays.

Kiermaier was called out sliding into home during the sixth inning and saw a strip of paper lying next to him after the play. He casually picked it up and took it back to Tampa Bay's dugout, where he discreetly handed it Paul Hoover, the club's field coordinator.

"I never even looked at it, I'll say that," Kiermaier told Sportsnet before Tuesday night's game. "But at the same time, I'm not going to drop it or hand it back."

Sportsnet reported Toronto sent a bat boy to the Rays dugout to ask for the card's return. Tampa Bay did not send back the card, which likely included information about the Blue Jays' plans to pitch to the Rays' hitters.

Manoah (7-2) allowed two runs and five hits. stuck out seven and walked six — double his previous season high. Four of the walks occurred during the opening two innings.

Jordan Romano, the third Toronto reliever, walked Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena with two outs in the ninth, Joey Wendle lined a ball just foul down the right-field line on the first pitch, then hit a flyout to right that gave Romano his 20th save in 21 chances.