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Blue Jays slug 3 HRs to beat Rays

Jun 23, 2015 - 5:22 AM St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes and Dioner Navarro hit solo home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-5 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.

Navarro had three hits and scored three runs for the Blue Jays, who snapped a four-game losing streak against the Rays, beating them for just the second time in eight meetings this season.

"I would say we're used to playing them but I don't know if that's good, because it's tension all the time," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.

Drew Hutchison (7-1) pitched five innings and remained unbeaten in his last four starts despite giving up three runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out six.

Roberto Osuna pitched the Blue Jays out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning with consecutive strikeouts and then fanned two more in the ninth to earn his first career save.

The AL East-leading Rays struck out 15 times and stranded 14 runners on base in just their third loss in the last 11 games.

Tampa Bay rookie Matt Andriese (2-2) gave up five hits in his fifth career start, including each of Toronto's three home runs.

"I thought he threw the ball well, he just couldn't avoid those home runs," said Rays manager Kevin Cash.

Logan Forsythe hit a solo homer in the loss and Kevin Kiermaier and Joey Butler each had three of Tampa Bay's 15 hits.

Home runs by Reyes in the third inning and Navarro in the fourth tied the score for the Blue Jays and Bautista's blast with one out in the sixth on Andriese's last pitch gave them a 4-3 lead.

It sparked a three-run rally that included an RBI double by Chris Colabello and an RBI single by Ezequiel Carrera off Ronald Belisario for a 7-3 edge.

Forsythe homered on Todd Redmond's second pitch in the bottom of the seventh and Steve Souza Jr. followed with a triple, later scoring on Rene Rivera's two-out ground-rule double to pull the Rays within 7-5.

Toronto got one back in the eighth after Carrera singled, went to third on Enny Romero's errant pickoff attempt and scored on Danny Valencia's hit.

Butler and Evan Longoria started the bottom of the eighth with back-to-back singles off Liam Hendricks and Forsythe drew a one-out walk off Osuna, who recovered to strike out Souza and Nick Franklin to end the threat.

Earlier, Kiermaier hit a leadoff single in the first inning and later scored Tampa Bay's first run on David DeJesus' hit.

Toronto's Navarro hit a leadoff double in the second and eventually scored on Colabello's ground out, but the Rays regained the lead on two-out RBI singles by Kiermaier and Longoria in the bottom of the inning.

Game Notes

Rays shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was ejected by home plate umpire Kerwin Danley in the fifth inning after looking at a called third strike. Cabrera slammed his bat on the plate and was tossed after making a comment directed at Danley as he walked away. Cabrera threw his bat and helmet before leaving through the dugout.