Rays 9 Blue Jays 4
TORONTO — Evan Longoria hit a home run and drove in four as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 9-4 at an open Rogers Centre on Thursday.
Desmond Jennings also homered and drove in two runs as Jeremy Hellickson (2-0) picked up the win over Henderson Alvarez (0-1) in the rubber match of the three-game series.
The Blue Jays won the opener of the series.
Hellickson allowed three runs, two earned, in 5 2/3 innings. Alvarez gave up six runs in 6 1/3 innings.
After the Blue Jays had tied the game 3-3 in the fourth, Jennings hit a solo homer and Longoria hit a two-run blast to put the Rays into the lead.
Luke Scott drove in two runs with a double in the Rays’ three-run ninth.
It was the second 2-1 series loss in a row for the Blue Jays, who stranded 13 runners on Thursday and finished a nine-game home stand with a 4-5 record. The Rays completed a 10-game trip 4-6.
Ben Zobrist batted second for the second game in a row for the Rays and scored the first run on Longoria’s single. Zobrist singled with one out and took second on a walk to Carlos Pena.
The Blue Jays (6-6) answered with a run in the home first. Yunel Escobar followed up Wednesday’s four-hit game with a leadoff single, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on Adam Lind’s two-out double.
The Rays (7-6) took a 3-1 lead with a pair in the second. The inning started when Matt Joyce was hit by a pitch. He scored from second on a two-out single to right by Sean Rodriguez, who went all the way to third on a throwing error charged to Jose Bautista on the throw home.
The ball skipped past catcher J.P. Arencibia and hit Alvarez, who was backing up home plate, in the face. Alvarez was able to continue after receiving attention.
The Blue Jays tied the game 3-3 in the fourth.
Colby Rasmus put down a bunt single with one out. Arencibia, who entered the game batting .063 (2-for-32), got his second hit of the night with a double to right field over the head of Zobrist.
Rodriguez was charged with a throwing error on Escobar’s grounder to short and Arencibia slid home with the tying run.
After Alvarez retired eight batters in a row, Jennings homered to left to restore Tampa Bay’s lead.
Zobrist walked with one out and Longoria hit a long blast to centre for his second homer of the season to put Tampa Bay into a 6-3 lead.
Arencibia hit another ball hard in the sixth but Joyce made a superb catch at the left-field wall.
It turned out to be a big play as the Blue Jays loaded the bases, but Lind lined out to first against J.P. Howell to end the inning.
Longoria picked up his fourth RBI of the game with a ninth-inning single against Jason Frasor and Scott knocked in two with a double. The Blue Jays scored a run in the bottom of the ninth against Fernando Rodney after loading the bases with one out on Brett Lawrie’s groundout.