Toronto was in trouble before it batted once. Tampa Bay scored three times in the first inning, chased Kevin Gausman by the fourth, and never let the Blue Jays close the distance in a 12-2 rout at Rogers Centre.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TB | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 21 | 0 |
| TOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
Nick Fortes carried the Rays' offense, going 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs. His two-run homer to left center in the fifth inning made it 8-0, and he added an RBI single in the ninth. Yandy Diaz also went deep, a three-run shot to center in the ninth that put the game further out of reach. Jonny DeLuca finished 2-for-6 with three RBIs, and Chandler Simpson and Ben Williamson each collected four hits.
The Rays did their damage early and often. DeLuca's first-inning single scored Caminero and Mullins to put Tampa Bay ahead 2-0, and Simpson followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0. In the fourth, Díaz scored on a throwing error by catcher Valenzuela and DeLuca later drove in Mullins to push the lead to 5-0. Fortes' three-run homer in the fifth made it 8-0 before Toronto had managed a single run.
Kevin Gausman lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing 5 runs (4 earned) on 9 hits with 2 walks and a strikeout, and was tagged with the loss, falling to 4-9 with a 4.51 ERA. Toronto's lone offense came in the sixth, when Varsho's infield single scored Clement and Okamoto grounded into a double play that brought home Springer, trimming the deficit to 8-2. It was as close as the Blue Jays would get. Drew Rasmussen worked 5.0 innings for Tampa Bay, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits with a walk and 5 strikeouts, improving to 8-5 with a 3.28 ERA.
Tampa Bay's bullpen closed it out with 4.0 scoreless innings, and the Rays broke the game open again in the ninth with four more runs, including Díaz's homer. The win pushed Tampa Bay, now 58-42 and sitting atop its division, to a two-game winning streak. Toronto fell to 46-55 and has now lost three straight. Diaz, who finished a single game shy of 1,000 career games played, will look to reach the milestone in his next appearance.