Blue Jays 8, Rays 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays, hoping to play spoilers in their final series of the season, had a 4-1 lead in the fifth, but the Toronto Blue Jays' bats took over, and the Blue Jays pulled away for an 8-4 win Friday at Tropicana Field.
Toronto (93-67) came into the night even with Kansas City for the American League's best record, and the Blue Jays held up their end, scoring four runs in the sixth and three in the seventh during their 17-hit night.
Leading 5-4 in the seventh, Toronto lit up Rays reliever Andrew Bellatti with three straight huge hits -- first baseman Edwin Encarnacion's 38th home run, a triple by designated hitter Chris Colabello, then a two-run home run by catcher Russell Martin, his 22nd of the season, for the 8-4 lead.
Rays outfielder Brandon Guyer tied a major-league record when he was hit by pitches three times Friday, getting hit all three times by Jays starter Mark Buehrle.
Tampa Bay (78-82) had its three-game win streak snapped and assured itself of a losing record with the loss.
Tampa Bay rested nearly half its starters against the lefty Buehrle, with first baseman James Loney, outfielders Kevin Kiermaier and Steven Souza, DH John Jaso and catcher J.P. Arencibia getting the night off.
After the Rays jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth, Toronto answered with four runs in the sixth inning for a 5-4 lead, chasing Tampa Bay starter Erasmo Ramirez and reliever Enny Romero.
Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar had an RBI double for the third hit of the inning, and second baseman Ryan Goins hit a two-run triple off the wall in right field to tie the game. The Blue Jays took the lead on a sacrifice fly by left fielder Ben Revere.
Ramirez gave up a career-high 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings, holding the Jays to one run until the troublesome sixth.
The Rays, held to two hits in the first four innings, tagged Buehrle for four runs in the fifth, three of which came on a home run by rookie right fielder Mikie Mahtook. It was Mahtook's eighth homer of the season and fifth since his Sept. 1 callup.
Tampa Bay had tied the game in the fifth when rookie catcher Luke Maile -- 2-for-28 for his career entering the night -- got his second hit of the game, a broken-bat RBI single to left field to score rookie Richie Shaffer, who had doubled to shallow right field to open the inning.
Guyer was hit by a pitch for the second time Friday -- and for a team-record 23rd time this season -- to set up Mahtook's home run to left field.
Toronto, which has clinched the American League East title and came into the night tied with Royals for the best record in the AL, took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI groundout by Pillar.
NOTES: The local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America gave out its season awards for the Rays on Friday, with 2B Logan Forsythe winning the Don Zimmer Award as team MVP, RHP Nathan Karns as Outstanding Rookie and the team's Champion Award to RHP Chris Archer. ... Toronto went into Friday's game with MLB's best record since the All-Star break at 47-21, two games ahead of the Cubs for baseball's best. They lead the American League in runs, home runs, walks, ERA and WHIP since the break. ... Fans at Tropicana Field greeted Jays 3B Josh Donaldson with chants of "M-V-P" at his first at-bat -- he went into the game with a .300 average, 41 home runs and 123 RBIs. The Rays' starting lineup has two players with more than 34 RBIs -- DH Evan Longoria with 73, SS Asdrubal Cabrera has 57. Every starter in Jays lineup has at least 43 RBIs.