Blue Jays blow lead, lose 4-2 to the Rays

The Blue Jays continued their series in Tampa Bay sending Daniel Norris to the mound. Daniel has had a pretty rough start to the year and was looking to improve on his 1-1 record. The Rays counted with Erasmo Ramirez. Erasmo didn`t fair well against the Blue Jays earlier this season giving up 8 ER on only 3.1 innings of work.

The Jays got on the board early. Devon Travis continued his hot streak with a double and was cashed in on a Josh Donaldson single.

The Rays evened up the score with a bloop into right field. Steven Souza came in to score after getting on board by a walk.

In the bottom half of the 2nd inning the Rays got their first two batters on with a single and a walk. Daniel Norris was able to get out of the jam with a strikeout, fly out, and ground out.

Jose Reyes led off the 3rd with a well hit single to left. Devon Travis followed that up with a single to right field. The Jays couldn`t score any more runs after Josh Donaldson hit into a double play and then Edwin Encarnacion struck out.

Erasmo Ramirez was taken out of the game after 4 innings. He had a good night brewing only allowing the single run in the first inning. Brandon Gomes came in to pitch the 5th inning for the Rays.

Josh Donaldson was able to get on base again in the 6th inning. He followed that up by stealing both 2nd and 3rd base.

Russell Martin hit his 3rd home run of the season in the 7th inning giving the Jays a 2-1 lead.

Evan Longoria was able to fight off a tough pitch off of Roberto Osuna to get a single. Brett Cecil came in to face David DeJesus and gave up a single. Miguel Castro came into the game for a 4 out save with men on 1st and 3rd. James Loney and Tim Beckham hit back to back doubles and gave the Rays a 4-2 lead.

Game Notes:

Michael Saunders made his Blue Jays debut.
Devon Travis extended his hit streak to 11 games.
Daniel Norris pitched fairly well. He was able to pitch his way out of trouble a few innings. The story continues with allowing plenty of base runners to get aboard. Tonight the Rays could not cash in any of those runners. Daniel pitched 7 innings getting 7 strikeouts giving up 5 hits and 3 walks.
Bullpen had a rough night out. They had a combined line of 1 IP 4 hits and 3 ER.

Grades:

C. The offense was not able to get enough runs to secure the win. They had a lead going into the 8th inning but they couldn`t come back in the 9th. Devon Travis continues to swing his hot bat. He picked up a couple hits and extended his hit streak. Josh Donaldson gets the game ball with a couple singles and a couple steals. <strong><a href=. Game Ball. Josh Donaldson. OFFENSE

B+. Finally Daniel Norris was able to pitch deep into a game. There were several times where he needed to dial things back a bit. A couple of his walks were on pitches he tried to give it a little extra. Still, with that said he got some timely strikeouts to help get out of some jams. You can never really complain when your starter gives you a quality start. Hopefully we can see more of this Daniel Norris this season.. . Daniel Norris. STARTING PITCHER

The bullpen was needed to close out 2 inning for the Jays. Roberto Osuna pitched well to get the first 2 of the 6 outs needed. <strong><a href=. Game Ball. Roberto Osuna. BULLPEN . F

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