JAYS RUN OUT OF JUICE IN ANOTHER TROP LOSS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.

— In his time as Blue Jays manager, Tropicana Field has been a personal house of horrors for John Gibbons. And the hits just keep on coming.

Or more to the point in this latest flop at the Trop, lack of productive hits.

The Jays dropped their second in a row to the Rays in this quick three-game trip to fall to 1-4 here this season and they have now dropped 10 of their past 14 under the unappealing big top.

The Jays hitters couldn’t manage any traction against a Rays “bullpen day” array of six pitchers led by “starter” Ryne Stanek, who is actually more of a closer and went hitless two innings.

In total, the Jays scattered just five hits to fall meekly to the Rays yet again. As a result of the latest episode of the horror show — Gibbons has actually called it that in the past — the Jays fell to 30-37 on the season.

“They just shut us down,” said the Toronto manager who isn’t a fan of the Rays bullpen-as-starter strategy. “To be honest they’ve always held us in check down here, I don’t care what their roster is. I don’t care what team, what year, it’s always kind of been that way.”

The Jays never led in this one as the Rays scored a pair of runs in the third inning thanks to a Wilson Ramos homer to centre field, the only significant offence in the game.

Despite the lack of production, the Jays were in it early scoring a run in the fifth to pull within one. But when starter Jaime Garcia allowed a walk and a double to start the sixth, Joe Biagini came on in relief and a pair of singles later the Rays had opened up a 4-1 lead that would hold up.

With the defeat the Jays guaranteed another series loss and will attempt to avoid the sweep in a matinee on Wednesday when staff ace J.A. Happ gets the start.

Though he was on the hook for all four Rays runs, it was a solid evening for Garcia, who lasted five innings plus two batters while allowing just four hits.

It’s not just the Trop that has been a house of horrors for the Jays, either. Gibbons’ team is now 3-8 in its past 11 road contests. Overall this season they’ve been outscored by 28 runs in games away from the Rogers Centre.