“I thought he was good”, manager John Gibbons said.
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SEE COREY HIT: Dickerson’s 3-for-5 day extended his sizzling run, raising his average an unbelievable 20 points in eight days, from.227 to.247, by going 15-for-27. “So I’m optimistic that this will turn and turn in a hurry”.
The Blue Jays have played the first two games of the series against the Rays without third baseman Josh Donaldson who has a sore right hip, which was jammed when he stepped on first base when he reached on an error Sunday against the Boston Red Sox. “Hopefully (Thursday) I’ll be able to get back in there and have some positive results”.
The Blue Jays have won just three of their last 12 games and were 2 1/2 games behind Boston for first place in the AL East after the matinee tilt.
It was the same story against Cobb and the Rays, who have won six of eight at Rogers Centre.
The Blue Jays led 1-0 on Edwin Encarnacion’s sacrifice fly in the first inning.
“We’ll know more after we get an MRI”, Atkins said. The pitching has been so-so and the offence is more miss than hit.
Following the fourth World Baseball Classic, the first pitch of the MLB season will go Sun., April 2, with the Rays hosting the Yankees and the San Francisco Giants travelling to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks.
“I’m not going to change anything”, Estrada said. “I’m really big on my rhythm right now”, he said.
Toronto has lost seven of their last 11 games against the Rays.
They managed just two hits on the day – matching a season-low – while giving up 13.
Two batters into the fourth, Tampa had Logan Forsythe aboard with a single, followed by a Kevin Kiermaier homer.
After Estrada was lifted in the top of the sixth with one out, after throwing 101 pitches, Matt Dermody promptly surrendered a long bomb to centre field to Corey Dickerson.
The Rays led 3-0 after Ramirez’s fifth-inning, three-run homer. His previous homer, on August 15, was a solo shot off Smyly at Tampa Bay when Ramirez was still with the Padres.
Smyly (7-11) allowed two runs on five hits and one walk in 5 2/3 innings. The oft-injured right-hander, who recently returned from elbow surgery, had gone 722 days between victories.
“I love winning”, Cobb said. “It’s why starters go out there”.
The Rays had built a 3-0 lead on a three-run homer by new Rays’ shortstop Alexei Ramirez.
Martin said Stroman deserved a better fate. “I’m happy for him. I don’t know exactly what point it was where it happened”. Toronto, which fell to 3-8 this month with Tuesday’s defeat, hasn’t done much to help its cause lately either while scoring three runs or fewer in six of its past eight.
Blue Jays: GM Ross Atkins said Donaldson’s hip was not responding to treatment.
Donaldson said he’s affected by rotational and side-to-side movement.
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The loss also left the Jays at 3-9 in September, a devastating falloff which has seen them drop from a two-game lead atop the division to a slim 1.5-game lead over Detroit and NY for final wild card berth (prior to Wednesday night’s games). Lefty Blake Snell (5-8, 3.62 ERA) will open the series for the Rays and Yovani Gallardo (5-7, 5.44 ERA) will take the mound for the O’s.
