Dickerson, Kiermaier ignite Rays in rout of Blue Jays
TORONTO -- Corey Dickerson belted a home run and had four RBIs, Kevin Kiermaier also went deep and Alex Cobb won for the first time in nearly two years as the Tampa Bay Rays posted an 8-1 victory over Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon.
Cobb (1-0), who was making his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery, allowed one run, two hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings.
The right-hander struck out four in winning for the first time since Sept. 2, 2014.
The Rays (62-83) won the rubber match of the three-game series and took the season set 11-8 from the skidding Blue Jays (79-66), who are 3-9 in September.
Toronto entered Wednesday in a second-place tie with the Baltimore Orioles, two games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox in the American League East.
Marco Estrada (8-9) allowed four runs on as many hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
The Blue Jays led 1-0 on Edwin Encarnacion's sacrifice fly in the first inning. Devon Travis scored on the play after leading who leading off with a double and advancing to third on a sacrifice by Michael Saunders.
The double extended Travis' hit streak to 11 games, which equals his career best.
Estrada struck out his first five batters and six of his first nine.
The Rays took a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning. Logan Forsythe led off with a single, the first baserunner of the game for Tampa Bay. Kiermaier followed with his 12th homer of the season.
Brad Miller continued the fourth with a walk, took second when Nick Franklin grounded out to first and scored on Dickerson's single.
The Rays seized a 6-1 lead in the sixth.
Dickerson produced two of the runs on his 20th homer run of the season. It scored Franklin, who singled with one out.
Matt Dermody, who had replaced Estrada, allowed the homer to Dickerson, which was a club-record 200th of the season for Tampa Bay, surpassing the mark set in 2009.
Danny Barnes replaced Dermody and allowed a single to Bobby Wilson that deflected off the pitcher and an RBI infield single by Forsythe that trickled along the third-base line and stayed fair.
The Blue Jays had only two walks off Cobb after the first-inning hit by Travis until Dioner Navarro singled with one out in the seventh.
Kevin Pillar walked with two out. Ryan Garton replaced Cobb to face pinch-hitter Justin Smoak, who popped out to shortstop.
Kiermaier and Evan Longoria singled against Bo Schultz in the ninth and Miller hit a sacrifice fly to bump the lead to 7-1. After Franklin singled to runners at the corners, Ryan Tepera replaced Schultz. Dickerson forced Franklin at second on a grounder to short to score another run.
Steve Geltz pitched around a walk in the bottom of the ninth for the Rays.
NOTES: Toronto 3B Josh Donaldson (sore right hip) was not in the lineup for the third straight game Wednesday. He injured the hip Sunday. INF Ryan Goins started at third base. ... Rays 2B Logan Forsythe was used as DH Wednesday with INF/OF Nick Franklin started at second base. ... By winning on Tuesday, the Rays clinched their eighth season series win over the Blue Jays in the past nine seasons. ... Rays LHP Blake Snell (5-8, 3.62 ERA) faces Orioles RHP Yovani Gallardo (5-7, 5.44 ERA) Thursday in the opener of a four-game series at Baltimore. ... Toronto LHP J.A. Happ (18-4, 3.33 ERA) will start Thursday in the opener of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim. The Angels' starter is to be determined.