Blue Jays 6, Rays 2
Adam Lind belted a pair of solo homers and Jose Bautista added another as visiting Toronto snapped Tampa Bay’s three-game win streak.
Brett Lawrie added two hits and knocked in a run for the Blue Jays, who have won three of their last four. Toronto starter J.A. Happ (3-2) allowed two runs, five hits and struck out five over 5 1/3 innings to earn his first victory in three starts since returning from the disabled list.
Evan Longoria recorded a pair of hits and scored a run for the Rays, who fell two games behind Boston in the American League East. Tampa Bay starter Roberto Hernandez (6-13) yielded five runs (four earned) and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings to suffer the loss.
Bautista hammered his 28th home run to open the scoring in the first and Lawrie’s two-out RBI single capped a two-run rally in the third to give Toronto a 3-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar’s run-scoring single in the fourth brought the Rays within 3-2.
Lind responded by hammering a 1-2 pitch from Hernandez into the right-field seats in the sixth before Lawrie doubled and scored on a throwing error to reclaim a three-run lead. Lind delivered his second blast to right field on an 0-2 pitch in the eighth and the Blue Jays’ bullpen pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Rays placed DH Luke Scott on the 15-day disabled list due to back spasms and reinstated RHP Brandon Gomes from the 60-day DL. Gomes gave up Lind’s second homer. … It was Happ’s first appearance at Tampa Bay since getting hit in the left ear by a line drive off the bat of Desmond Jennings on May 7. Happ suffered a skull fracture and a sore knee after falling to the ground and missed three months. … It was Lind’s first multi-homer game since June 29, 2012, against the Los Angeles Angels.