Blue Jays take the series on 4-0 shutout of the Rays

Sunday afternoon marked the rubber match between the Blue Jays and the Rays. The Blue Jays needing a big win to bring the club back to .500 sent out Marco Estrada to the mound. The Rays countered with their young ace Chris Archer.

In the bottom of the 1st inning Jose Bautista picked up a two out infield single. He was stranded on base after Edwin Encarnacion flew out to end the inning.

To lead off the top of the 2nd inning James Loney hit a single up the middle of the infield. Logan Forsythe hit a fly ball to shallow center for the first out of the inning. David DeJesus struck out and Loney was caught trying to steal for a strike’em out throw’em out double play.

In the top of the 3rd inning Tim Beckham led off with a double to left field. Kevin Kiermaier put down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runner to 3rd base. Rene Rivera hit a shallow fly ball to left field for the 2nd out of the inning. Dioneer Navarro picked off Beckham at 3rd base to end the inning.

Justin Smoak snapped the streak of retired batters at 11 by Chris Archer with a one out single in the 5th. Chris Colabello followed that up with a home run to left field. Kevin Pillar flew out to center for the 2nd out of the inning. Devon Travis extended the inning with a two out walk. Jose Reyes hit a double to left field to put two runners in scoring position. Josh Donaldson flew out to right field to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 6th inning Dioner Navarro picked up a two out single to center field. Just Smoak struck out to end the inning.

Logan Forsythe hit a one out single to left field in the top of the 8th. David DeJesus struck out for the 2nd out of the inning. Tim Beckham struck out to end the inning.

Brandon Gomes entered the game to pitch the bottom of the 8th for the Rays. Josh Donaldson picked up a one out walk. Jose Bautista smashed a two run home run over the center field wall. Edwin Encarnacion flew out for the 2nd out. Xavier Cedeno came in to pitch and struck out Dioner Navarro.

Roberto Osuna entered the game in a non save situation with a 4 run lead. Kevin Kiermaier hit a lead off double to left field. That didn`t matter as Osuna struck out the next 3 batters he faced.

Game Notes:

• The home run was the scoring method of choice today. The way Archer was pitching the bloop and a blast was the only way to get to him.
• Marco Estrada delivered his usual fly ball performance. Today all the fly balls stayed in the park. He totaled 14 fly ball outs. He had 5 strike outs. Navarro picked off 2 runners. That left 3 ground ball outs. One of which was a bunt.
• Jose Bautista hit his 19th home run of the season. That is keeping his pace for 32 home runs this season. Another nice pace is his RBI total. Today he picked up his 63rd. That put him on pace for a nice 108.
• Roberto Osuna came in despite it being a non save situation. The win was big enough to warrant the closer to come in and secure victory.

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