Jays stumble against Rays
Toronto falls 6-2 against Tampa Bay, at risk of losing 4th straight series today
TORONTO — Russell Martin couldn’t complain about Marcus Stroman’s pitches on Tuesday night. There was one he would have liked to have back, though.
With runners on first and second in the fifth inning, Stroman threw a 93 m.p.h. two-seam fastball to Alexei Ramirez that the Tampa Bay shortstop hit over the wall to give the Rays a 3-0 lead. They never looked back en route to a 6-2 victory over the struggling Toronto Blue Jays.
“That’s really the story of the day, that one pitch,” Martin said. “Just a two-seamer, maybe overthrown a little bit . . . . You could throw that pitch nine out of 10 times and maybe get more sink on it, get a ground ball and we’re out of the inning. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case right there.”
Steven Souza Jr., also homered for the Rays (61-83), Logan Forsythe had an RBI and Drew Smyly (7-11) went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts to hand Toronto its eighth loss in 11 games.
The Blue Jays opened their September schedule by losing three consecutive series for the first time this season, slipping down the AL East standings in the process. They could lose a fourth straight series with a defeat in this afternoon’s finale.
Toronto and Baltimore are tied for the first AL wild card after the Orioles beat Boston 6-3 on Tuesday. Both clubs are two games back of the Red Sox for top spot in the division.
Stroman knows things need to change for the Blue Jays to reach the post-season for a second straight year.
“My stuff feels great, but we’re in September and we’re at the point where we need to be getting wins so it’s frustrating,” he said. “We need to start winning games here.
“The whole morale of the team is confident, we just have to go out there and do it.”
Stroman (9-8) allowed three runs on four hits with four strikeouts and four walks over six innings. The outing snapped his streak of 12 consecutive starts with two walks or less.
“I didn’t really think it was an issue,” Martin said of the Stroman’s four free passes.
“I thought he threw the ball well. I don’t really care what the stats say. The ball’s coming out good. Sinker was good, four-seamer was good, cutter was good. He’s throwing the ball well. I’m not going to try and find a reason.”
Martin hit a two-run homer for the Blue Jays (79-65), his 18th of the season, and Devon Travis had a single in the seventh to extend his hit streak to a season-high 10 games.