Nada for Jays starter Estrada as Rays win 8-1

As the weather heats up, Marco Estrada’s pitching has turned cold.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ starter picked up his third straight loss in an 8-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday. Estrada gave up six runs, all earned, in 31/3 innings on 12 hits — a career high — including two home runs.

The 33-year-old’s record fell to 4-5. He has now given up 17 earned runs in his last 121/3 innings, and 28 hits in his last three games.

Many of the hits against Estrada were bloopers, bleeders or weak shots that found holes in the infield. But he also gave up two home runs in the third, including a monster three-run blast to centre by Logan Morrison.

The Rays (35-32) hammered three homers against the Jays (3133). The other two were by second baseman Taylor Featherston — off Estrada — and a ninth-inning bomb to right by Corey Dickerson off Toronto reliever Aaron Loup.

Rays rookie starter Jake Faria was outstanding in his second career major league start, allowing only six hits and one run over 6 1/3 innings. He didn’t give up an extrabase hit until the seventh inning, when Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin hit a double off the wall in left.

Estrada survived the first inning without giving up a run, which was a minor victory in itself. Heading into Tuesday’s game, he held a 7.62 ERA — 11 earned runs in 13 innings — in the opening inning this season with an opponents’ batting average of .333 and a WHIP of 1.92. He gave up a first-inning single to Dickerson, but stranded the Tampa DH.

Seven of the Rays’ starters posted a multi-hit game, including Dickerson, who had three singles and the home run.

The Jays’ Francisco Liriano is set to take the mound against Jake Odorizzi when the two-game series wraps on Wednesday.