• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Navarro, Encarnacion lead Blue Jays past Rays

Sep 4, 2014 - 5:48 AM St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Dioner Navarro and Edwin Encarnacion both hit two-run homers to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.

Adam Lind finished 4-for-5 with two runs scored, Danny Valencia drove in two runs and Jose Bautista had two hits and scored twice for Toronto, which has won four straight games.

Marcus Stroman (9-5) tossed six strong innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

"We have to get greedy and try to win another one tomorrow," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "Another well-played game all the way around and that's the bottom line."

Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer and finished with three RBI and James Loney also drove in a run for the Rays, who have been outscored 15-6 in the first two games of this three-game set.

Starter Chris Archer (8-8) gave up six runs on 10 hits over six frames in defeat.

"We came out flat. We rebounded, but there was too much of a deficit," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "They hit the ball well."

The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the second. Lind hit a one-out single and came home after Navarro stroked a two-run shot to right.

Play was delayed for 30 minutes with one out in the bottom of the third after a section of lights above third base went out due to a nearby storm.

Toronto picked up where it left off in the fourth. Lind doubled to right with one out, moved to third on Navarro's base hit and scored on Valencia's sacrifice fly for a 3-0 score.

In the fifth, Melky Cabrera's sac fly to left brought in Anthony Gose. Bautista singled before Encarnacion extended Toronto's lead with a two-run shot to left.

Ben Zobrist and Matt Joyce both singled to place runners on first and third with two outs in the sixth. Longoria's base hit to left scored Zobrist and Loney's single to right brought home Joyce.

Loney advanced to second on the throw and was called out, but a Rays challenge overturned the call to keep the inning alive. Yunel Escobar grounded out to short to end the frame.

The Blue Jays answered with another run in the seventh. Valencia hit a sac fly to the warning track in left with the bases loaded and one out to score Bautista for a 7-2 game.

Wil Myers singled off Dustin McGowan to start the eighth. Two batters later, Longoria hammered a 1-0 fastball to left.

Aaron Sanchez pitched a scoreless ninth for his second career save.

Game Notes

There was also a power delay in Tampa Bay's 7-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Tropicana Field on Aug. 3 ... The Blue Jays edged the Rays in hits, 12-11 ... Bautista and Navarro both extended their hitting streaks to seven games ... Toronto leads the season series, 9-6.