Lobaton’s triple in ninth sinks Blue Jays
Rays rally wipes out Toronto’s 3-1 lead
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. Jose Lobaton hit a game-ending triple with one out in the ninth inning, lifting the Tampa Bay Rays to their third straight victory, 5-4 over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night.
Lobaton’s triple came off Aaron Loup (4-6) after Yunel Escobar walked. Lobaton had three hits.
Fernando Rodney (5-3) gave up two hits to start the ninth, but worked out of the jam.
The Jays had tied it in the eighth when, with runners on second and third and one out, Anthony Gose hit a grounder to shortstop. Escobar’s throw was off line to home plate and Brett Lawrie scored.
In his fifth start this season against Tampa Bay, R.A. Dickey gave up six hits and four runs over seven innings. He had pitched a two-hit shutout here on June 26.
Maicer Izturis scored for the Blue Jays after being hit on the foot by a pitch from Jeremy Hellickson pitch in the first inning. Adam Lind drove him in with a two-out single.
The Rays tied it in the third after Escobar led off with a triple, the first hit off Dickey. Lobaton followed with an RBI single.
Edwin Encarnacion and Gose drove in runs against Hellickson in the fifth and sixth to put Toronto up 3-1. Playing in his first game since being recalled up from TripleBuffalo, Gose bounced a two-out single up the middle after a triple by Josh Thole.
Matt Joyce finished an 11-pitch at bat with a home run off Dickey in the sixth, making it 3-2. It was Joyce’s first home run since June 15, ending a career-long span of 43 homerless games.
Escobar and Sam Fuld drove in runs to lift the Rays to a 4-3 lead in the seventh.
Hellickson pitched six innings, giving up nine hits and three earned runs. After a seven-game stretch in which he went 6-0, Hellickson is 0-3 in his last four starts with an earned run average of 8.00.
Izturis had three of Toronto’s 13 hits. The Jays led off each of the last three innings with hits, but left 11 men on base.
NOTES: The Blue Jays activated LHP J.A. Happ from the bereavement list and placed INF Munenori Kawasaki on the paternity list. Happ, Saturday night’s scheduled starter, was hit in the head by Desmond Jennings’ drive on May 7, and will be pitching for the first time at Tropicana Field since getting hurt.