Rays walk on past Blue Jays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Toronto Blue Jays’ big bats went on vacation Saturday in Florida.

The heart of the order — Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Kendrys Morales — went a collective 2-for-13 with eight strikeouts with one RBI against the Tampa Bay Rays. Nowhere good enough.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay left-fielder Mallex Smith was a one-man wrecking crew against Toronto at Tropicana Field. Smith went 2-for-2 with three walks and two stolen bases and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Rays defeated the Jays 3-2, the second straight loss for Toronto and their fourth in five games to start the season.

Smith scored with two out in the bottom of the 11th, when with one out and the bases loaded, Jays reliever Casey Lawrence — making his first appearance in the major leagues — walked second baseman Brad Miller on a 3-2 pitch, giving Tampa Bay the walk-off victory.

The game featured a pitching matchup between starters Aaron Sanchez and Chris Archer with neither getting the decision.

Morales, who was 10-for-16 (.625) against Archer lifetime heading into the game, picked up the first hit for the Jays off the Rays’ right-hander with a single to right field to lead off the fifth.

The Rays scored in the fifth when Corey Dickerson hit a single up the middle to score Derek Norris from third. With runners at first and second in the same inning, good defence saved Sanchez from giving up further runs. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki made a nice catch by ranging back and jumping to snare a Kevin Kiermaier pop-up and then second baseman Devon Travis pulled in a sinking line drive off the bat of Evan Longoria.

With two out in the seventh, Sanchez tried to pick Smith off at first, but threw the ball past first baseman Justin Smoak, allowing Smith to move to second. Also in the seventh, with Bautista and Donaldson on and none out, Morales punched a line drive just foul in left. He then hit into a double-play, moving Donaldson to third. Tulowitzki then hit a single to left to score Donaldson and tie the game 1-1.