Jays fall to Tampa Bay as losing skid continues
Spot starter Rowley chased early and comeback fizzles
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.— An all-too-wellknown narrative played out as the Blue Jays reunited with a pair of familiar foes — Chris Archer and Tropicana Field — in their latest attempt to put a dent in their fluctuating race for a wildcard spot.
The Rays ace, who owns a career 3.16 ERA against Toronto, faced Blue Jays spot starter Chris Rowley for the second consecutive outing, earning a quality start as the honeymoon period ended for the rookie in the 6-5 loss.
Rowley’s introduction to the big leagues was nearly as heartwarming as the story behind how he got there, the army- man-turned-professional-ballplayer, who allowed just three runs over his first 10-1/3 innings.
But the reality of his demanding new day job struck hard on Tuesday. The right hander gave up a solo home run in the bottom the first inning against the Rays — tying a go-ahead leadoff long ball from Toronto’s Nori Aoki — before a three-run second frame gave the home team a lead it wouldn’t surrender.
A pair of runs off relievers Matt Dermody and Dominic Leone was enough to off-set a mid-game rally and a late dinger from Josh Donaldson.
Aoki was part of the Blue Jays’ new look outfield, with manager John Gibbons starting Jose Bautista at third base and Josh Donaldson at shortstop for a second straight game. His hope that the changes would produce some offence against Tampa Bay’s ace worked early on, recent signing Aoki hitting his sixth career leadoff homer to right field.
It was the Blue Jays’ third leadoff dinger of the season.
Rays’ designated hitter Lucas Duda matched that almost immediately, bringing the game level at 1-1 with a solo shot to right field of his own. Corey Dickerson was the third player of the night to go over the wall, homering with one out in the bottom of the second inning.
But unlike with Aoki and Duda’s production, the scoring in that frame didn’t stop with Dickerson. Catcher Wilson Ramos doubled and second baseman Brad Miller walked to give centre-fielder Kevin Kiermaier something to hit for. He made good with a two-RBI triple.
It was a 32-pitch inning for Rowley when all was said and done, four times the number of pitches he would go on to throw in a bounceback third frame. Rowley was out by the fourth, replaced by lefty Matt Dermody after surrendering his third walk of the game to Miller and fifth hit to shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria.
By that point, the Blue Jays had already lost Kevin Pillar. The centrefielder’s mouth got him in trouble for a second time this season, ejected after chirping at home plate umpire Chad Fairchild on his way back from grounding out in the third frame. It was Pillar’s first career ejection.
“All I said was the first pitch was terrible, that was it. I didn’t raise my voice, use any profanity,” Pillar said. "I think I’ve been through a lot this year I’ve understood how to know the power of words and how people could be offended by it (referring to his suspension earlier this year for a homophobic slur). I just felt like I offered my opinion.”
“First at-bat, first pitch of the night for you,” said manager John Gibbons. “You can’t get thrown out of the ballgame there.”
It was his replacement Ezequiel Carrera — offering an even different look to the Blue Jays outfield than Gibbons had intended — who helped stir Toronto’s attempt at comeback. After catcher Miguel Montero reached first base on a passed ball with one out, Carrera whacked a double to right field. It set up Ryan Goins — 25-for-75 with runners in scoring position — for an RBI single scoring Montero. A sacrifice fly to left field by Aoki cashed in Carrera, before Donaldson’s third strikeout of the night brought the rally to an end.
The Rays capitalized before long. Evan Longoria hit a double off the top of the centre-field wall that Carrera dropped, advancing the infielder to third. Dermody got two outs but his replacement, Dominic Leone, allowed a dribbler up the third baseline by Hechavarria that scored Longoria.
Longoria would go on to hit an actual triple off Leone an inning later, scoring Hechavarria in return for the Rays’ final run. The Jays would get one more in the 9th but fell short.