ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Díaz hit a two-run homer, Drew Rasmussen earned his sixth consecutive win and Bryan Baker converted his 25th straight save opportunity to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-6 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.
The Rays led 7-1 before Toronto scored four runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to make it a one-run game. But, the Rays’ bullpen shut down Toronto's last 12 batters, and Baker got the last three outs for his major league-leading 36th save.
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Toronto Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk celebrates his home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen with third base coach Carlos Febles (51) during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Kazuma Okamoto, of Japan, races Tampa Bay Rays' Richie Palacios to the base during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Cedric Mullins, right, scores ahead of the throw to Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela on a bunt during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Bryan Baker reacts after closing out the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz celebrates his two-run home run off Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
McAdoo, who was stranded at second base in the ninth, stole his first career base and led the Blue Jays with a career-high three hits. Alejandro Kirk homered and drove in two runs for Toronto.
Rasmussen (13-5) retired his first eight batters before McAdoo legged out an infield single in the third. Kirk’s solo homer in the fourth broke up the shutout.
Rasmussen is the fifth pitcher in Rays history to win six straight starts and the first since Blake Snell won a franchise-best nine in a row in 2018.
Toronto starter Max Scherzer (1-6) struggled in the fourth, when the Rays sent nine batters to the plate. The 42-year-old right-hander allowed five runs in the inning on three hits as the small-ball Rays scored three times on balls that didn't leave the infield.
Díaz got Tampa Bay on the board with his two-run shot, his 19th this season, in the bottom of the first.
Tampa Bay capitalized on a rough outing by Jesús Sánchez, who struggled to track two fly balls against the Tropicana Field roof. Junior Caminero’s first-inning fly bounced in front of Sánchez for a ground-rule double. In the fourth, Richie Palacios’ high fly eluded Sánchez and ended up as a two-run double.
Díaz, Chandler Simpson and Taylor Walls each extended hitting streaks to 10 games.
Toronto’s Brett Batemen left following his third-inning groundout with right hamstring tightness.
Blue Jays RHP Shane Bieber (4-2, 4.99 ERA) faces Rays LHP Ian Seymour (9-3, 4.11) in the series finale Thursday.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Toronto Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk celebrates his home run off Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen with third base coach Carlos Febles (51) during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Kazuma Okamoto, of Japan, races Tampa Bay Rays' Richie Palacios to the base during the sixth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Cedric Mullins, right, scores ahead of the throw to Toronto Blue Jays catcher Brandon Valenzuela on a bunt during the fourth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Bryan Baker reacts after closing out the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Díaz celebrates his two-run home run off Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired one of his most senior officials Wednesday as corruption investigators named a deputy head of the presidential office among the suspects in a money-laundering case.
The stunning developments came a day after Ukraine’s recently fired defense minister demanded national elections, despite Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion.
Although Zelenskyy was not implicated in the graft investigation, it threatened to pull him into another political crisis and provide another test of his resilience.
Investigators gave few details of the probe. It has identified a group of people alleged to have laundered 150 million hryvnias ($3.4 million) to pay bail for a defendant in a major graft case last year, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said.
That case, involving the state-owned nuclear power company, brought the resignations of Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers.
The latest suspects include a former lawmaker, the chairperson of a state bank’s board and the head of the bank’s supervisory board, as well as a deputy head of the presidential office, the agency said.
Zelenskyy made no public comment on the investigation but issued a decree dismissing Iryna Mudra as deputy head of the Office of the President. Investigators have not named her as a suspect.
Investigators searched Mudra’s office Wednesday, said lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko.
Zelenskyy remains dogged by high-level graft investigations, although he has never been named as a suspect even as the probes have engulfed officials close to him. Last year, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned and later was named as a suspect in a major graft probe involving a luxury construction project in the biggest threat to Zelenskyy’s government since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The European Union has identified deep-seated corruption as one of the major hurdles to Ukraine's desired membership in the bloc.
Zelenskyy is already under pressure over his firing last month of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the longest-standing members of his team and a close ally since helping him win the 2019 presidential election.
Zelenskyy, seeking to reconcile tensions between the Defense Ministry's young and tech-savvy innovators and Ukraine's seasoned, Soviet-trained battlefield leaders, risked angering both sides by reshuffling his wartime leadership. He ousted both Fedorov, whose changes to military procurement aimed to stamp out corruption, and commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
That sparked sustained street protests supporting Fedorov. For Zelenskyy, it was the second time in a year that a move triggered a strong public backlash, after he tried to curb the powers of anti-corruption agencies in 2025.
Fedorov, in an address posted to YouTube late Tuesday, called for elections — appearing to directly confront Zelenskyy, whose term expired in 2024. Ukraine's constitution prohibits such a vote under martial law.
“We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Fedorov said.
He said Ukraine faces a crisis in how it is governed, arguing the current system is oriented toward protecting itself and resisting change. He also condemned corruption among officials without naming anyone, saying it had weakened Ukraine’s ability to fight.
Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately comment on Fedorov’s address. It was not immediately clear whether Fedorov's appeal would resonate with Ukrainians.
Also on Wednesday, lawmakers approved Zelenskyy's candidate, Maj. Gen. Yevhenii Khmara, as the new defense minister, a move that effectively closes the door to Fedorov’s return to the post, which he has sought, anytime soon.
Lawmakers also gave their consent for Andrii Sybiha to stay on as foreign minister after serving in an interim role.
The political disarray follows recent successes for Ukraine in the war. Using innovative drone technology, it has repeatedly hit Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages. It has also shocked the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, the country's biggest online retailer, and stalled front-line advances by Moscow's bigger army.
But Zelenskyy has been unable to get traction in U.S.-led peace efforts, and Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia's ballistic missiles because more U.S.-made Patriot interceptors aren't available due to low international stockpiles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has balked at negotiating a peace deal directly with Zelenskyy.
In its latest attack, a Ukrainian drone hit an oil refinery in Ufa in Russia's Bashkortostan, its Gov. Radiy Khabirov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. There are three oil refineries in Ufa, and all have been attacked.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 453 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions, as well as Russian-held Crimea and the Black Sea.
It said Russian forces on Tuesday hit a bulk carrier in the Black Sea, southeast of Odesa, that was carrying military equipment. On Wednesday, the Russian military struck what it said were fuel and lubricant storage tanks for the Ukrainian armed forces in the southern port of Chornomorsk.
A Russian drone struck a minibus in Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing four people, said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the regional military administration, adding that four women were wounded. Another Russian drone struck a civilian car in the regional capital, killing a woman, he said.
Amid the fighting, Russia and Ukraine swapped 103 prisoners of war, according to Zelenskyy and the Russian Defense Ministry.
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A woman reacts as she looks at charred books after a fire at the country's biggest book market, caused by a recent Russian missile attack, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukrainian FP-1 long-range attack drones are seen moments before launch by the 413th Separate Regiment of Unmanned Systems "Raid" on a deep-strike drone mission to hit Russian targets deep in their territory, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukrainian soldiers smoke and talk to their relatives after returning from captivity after a Prisoners of War (POWs) exchange between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
The National Music Academy, right, is reflected on a metro entrance at Independence square where Ukrainian flags and photographs are placed in memory of civilians and soldiers killed during the war with Russia, in central Kyiv, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Ukrainian soldiers speak to their relatives after returning from captivity after a Prisoners of War (POWs) exchange between Russia and Ukraine, in Chernyhiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People sing and hold up their cell phone flashlights during a rally to protest the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, late Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People stand still for a minute of silence during a rally to protest against the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People march during a rally to protest the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, late Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
FILE - Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, file)
