ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – As big of a pain in the, umm, tail-feather as the Tampa Bay Rays have been this season for the Toronto Blue Jays, they’ve so far managed to more than make up for it by beating up on the New York Yankees.
A sweep-averting 5-3 comeback win Sunday afternoon eased the tension after 24 innings of frustration at Tropicana Field, sending them off to the Bronx for a Labour Day date with old nemesis Masahiro Tanaka in a much better frame of mind.
The victory, coupled with a Red Sox loss, allowed the Blue Jays to take a one-game lead in the American League East and improved them to 7-9 this season versus the Rays. They’re 9-3 against the Yankees, against whom they’ll try to reclaim some of the ground they lost over the weekend.
"We get on the bird, have a happy flight, any time you can come back and score some runs to win a game it feels good," said Russell Martin, who was saved from ejection in the fourth when manager John Gibbons got run instead, and delivered a two-run homer in the eighth that secured the win. "It’s definitely nice, after you lose two in a row, you don’t want to lose three in a row and get swept by a team. We were able to pull it off, had some timely hitting, and looking forward to getting to New York."
Up until Devon Travis’ two-run single in the seventh erased a 3-1 deficit and Martin’s two-run shot, the Blue Jays seemed headed for their first three-game losing streak since June 18-21. They also hadn’t been swept since the Rays outscored them 31-7 during a three-game set in Toronto May 16-18.
Troy Tulowitzki started a one-out rally in the seventh by poking a single through the open right side to knock a strong Chris Archer out of the game. Brad Boxberger followed and surrendered a single to Michael Saunders and a walk to Kevin Pillar before Travis snuck a groundball through the left side to push across a pair and tie the game.
"Sometimes the situation calls for you to take a chance at a long ball," said bench coach DeMarlo Hale, who took over after Gibbons’ sixth ejection. "(Tulowitzki) got up there with no one on and he got a pitch that was out over the plate and he hit it that way. That’s how you win. That’s how you play team baseball. Someone else does something and you get some momentum going and you put a couple of them together and you have that kind of inning."
After Jose Bautista hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out, Josh Donaldson walked to again load the bases, but Edwin Encarnacion, who struck out with two on to end the third, popped out by the Rays dugout to end the frame.
No matter, Kevin Jepsen came in for the eighth, issued a leadoff walk to Dioner Navarro, watched as pinch-runner Dalton Pompey easily stole second on the first pitch and went 3-0 to Martin before the catcher popped his 17th of the season.
"Typically you’re looking for a pitch that’s out over the plate and that’s what I got," said Martin. "There’s really one pitch, one spot, if it’s not there you take it. If it’s there you have to let it rip, and it ended up in my happy zone."
The homer was the Blue Jays’ first in 27 innings, and prevented them from going three full games without a longball for the first time this year.
"Archer had really controlled us for a little bit. You’re going to need a big hit at some point," said Hale. "Once a guy got in scoring position, (Martin) is up there to drive that run in … and he got a pitch to drive out. … Granted, if he had got a base hit it would’ve been good, too, but we’ll take the home run."
Joaquin Benoit, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna, who handled the ninth for his 30th save, delivered some boss relief to close things out as some stellar bullpen work by Danny Barnes and Scott Feldman helped bridge the gap.
"So huge," said Travis. "Those quick innings mean a lot to the offence and they did a fantastic job."
The offence’s rally came after Archer had held a Blue Jays offence that managed just 12 hits over the first two games of the series largely dormant to that point, allowing an Encarnacion double and Navarro RBI single in the first and then little else.
J.A. Happ couldn’t hold that early lead, and needed 85 pitches to get through 2.2 innings, getting yanked after Corey Dickerson’s two-out single in the third put the Rays up 3-1. He gave up a pair of runs in the first on Evan Longoria’s RBI double and Matt Duffy’s sacrifice fly, and basically didn’t look right from start to finish.
The outing was his second-shortest of the season, a two-inning stinker May 18 also coming against the Rays.
"The one early in the year was just a bunch of pitches in the zone they did some damage on," said Happ. "This one I was a little more erratic, just outside the zone, then they ended up getting a couple of base hits. They had a good approach, they were patient up there, making me work and throwing 85 pitches in not even three innings isn’t where you want to be. We’ll get back to work and expect to be better next time."
Things certainly could have gotten out of hand at that point, as Martin didn’t like a called third strike in the fourth and exchanged some words with home plate umpire Pat Hoberg before Gibbons took over the chirping from the dugout and got heaved. Barnes helped settled things with a pivotal 2.1 innings of one-hit relief, while Feldman added a clean sixth to help keep the Rays within reach.
"There was some emotion going on both sides," said Hale. "Pat behind the plate, he’s doing his job, but this time of the year, September, hopefully umpires expect a little barking, you know, cause it’s an emotional game and these guys are in every moment and so is this coaching staff. I don’t know whether he got us going getting tossed out, but that’s part of his job, you know. You want to keep the guys in the game and let them play and let them win the ball game."
Added Martin: "It just shows that he has our back and that’s all you can ask from your manager. He kind of just weathered the storm a little bit, took the heat for everybody. I think he kept some guys in the game doing that, including myself."
Something that paid off when the Blue Jays managed to turn their fortunes at the Trop.