The ninth inning proved to be the best inning for the Blue Jays after three batters were walked, giving the Blue Jays the opportunity they needed to peck away at the Rays imposing lead of 7-1. Evan Longoria has bagged 147 hits with 70 runs, 31 homers and 84 RBI. “I was just out there wanting to get outs”.
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Five Toronto relievers allowed two hits in 6 1/3 scoreless innings.
Cobb settled down after his shaky first inning and only gave up four hits in total.
When he began the sixth inning, Estrada had given up only two runs in 22 1/3 career innings at Tropicana Field.
That moment at the very start of the game, when he struck out Blue Jays lead-off man Jose Bautista, freezing him with an 85-mph changeup and that moment in the third when he did the same to Melvin Upton Jr. were just two of what proved to be a steady stream of them.
2B Devon Travis, who tied the Sunday game in the seventh inning with a two-run single, leads Toronto in hits since the All-Star game. The Blue Jays had the call reviewed because they thought it could have been a home run, but the ruling stood and Donaldson remained on second base. Now they have their ace on the mound in Archer to go head-to-head with Happ, who is struggling right now.
On Saturday he tripped over that fine line and got eaten alive by the Tampa Bay Rays.
“Well, I’m happy”, Cobb said.
While the Rays have been all but ousted from the wild card race, the Blue Jays are relying on Happ to reclaim first place in the AL East. He bounced back nicely on August 10, throwing six shutout innings of four-hit ball in a 7-0 Jays win in Toronto.
Still, the Red Sox get to play one more game against the A’s on Sunday and play a three-game series against the 56-79 Padres in San Diego to make up some ground before that stretch.
Tampa Bay Rays’ Kevin Kiermaier, right, celebrates his two-run home run off Toronto Blue Jays relief pitcher Joe Biagini with teammate Logan Forsythe during the seventh inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Navarro was caught a little off the base by a deceptively sneaky Bobby Wilson, however, to end the inning.
Rays second baseman Logan Forsythe tied a franchise record by reaching in 11 plate appearances in the three-game series.
LHP J.A. Happ lasted only 2 2/3 innings Sunday at Tampa Bay before leaving following 84 pitches. However, the Blue Jays can not expect to remain atop the American League East if they lose two out of three games to the Rays, something they did at home about a week-and-a-half ago against another last place team, the Los Angeles Angels.
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Edwin Encarnacion had an RBI double and Russell Martin picked up his 22nd RBI in his last 16 games on an infield single as the Blue Jays went up 2-0 in the first.
