Trop still house of horrors for Jays
Perhaps the Blue Jays’ win streak was doomed from the start.
Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, hasn’t been kind to the Jays over the years, a trend that continued Monday night with an 8-4 loss to the home team.
The Jays came into the threegame series on the heels of four straight victories over the Baltimore Orioles, and seven consecutive quality starts from the rotation. Both streaks ended when Sam Gaviglio was knocked around for the first time since joining the club a month ago, giving up five runs on seven hits through 31⁄3 innings.
After six innings of back and forth, the Rays pulled away with a three-run seventh, while the Jays managed just one hit from the fifth inning on.
An RBI single by Blue Jay Kendrys Morales in the top of the first was cancelled out by a Joey Wendle sacrifice fly in the bottom. In the third, Teoscar Hernandez’s two-run home run was offset by RBI singles from Willy Adames — the Rays’ No. 2 prospect, called up earlier in the day — and Mallex Smith.
Toronto went ahead again in the fourth when Randal Grichuk singled home Morales, but Tampa responded again in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run homer from Jake Bauers, the first big-league dinger for the Rays’ No. 5 prospect in his fifth game.
That signalled the end of the night for Gaviglio.
Rays counterpart Ryan Yarbrough, who has logged more innings in relief than as a starter this year, lasted through the sixth, giving up four runs on seven hits.
The game stayed tight until the start of John Axford’s second inning of relief in the seventh. He allowed a walk, a single and hit a batter to load the bases before dropping a comebacker from Wendle and then tossing it wildly past catcher Russell Martin. The Rays scored a pair on the error by Axford, who handed off to Seunghwan Oh.
Reliever Preston Guilmet, claimed from the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend and added to the roster on Monday, made his Jays debut and delivered a clean eighth inning. Lefty Tim Mayza returned to Triple-A Buffalo.
Second baseman Devon Travis returned to the lineup after a few days off with a sore knee, but third baseman Josh Donaldson (left calf tightness) remained out.
Top prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (knee), starter Marcus Stroman (shoulder) and outfielder Steve Pearce (oblique) — who have been rehabbing injuries at the team’s base in Dunedin, Fla. — took in the game.