Blue Jays fight tooth and nail, win first series against Rays

"I've got blisters on my fingers," Beatles drummer Ringo Starr once griped after extending himself during the recording of Helter Skelter in the late 1960s.

Goodness knows what Aaron Sanchez was muttering as he stalked off the mound following an abbreviated one-inning outing for the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday, but in all likelihood it was not fit for public consumption.

The Blue Jays were amped up for their game against the Tampa Bay Rays and one of the reasons was the return of their young flamethrower, who was sidelined by a blister issue on the middle finger of his right hand.

The blister was caused by the fingernail irritating the skin when Sanchez threw, with the curveball the primary aggrieving pitch.

Sanchez opted to have a portion of the nail removed during a surgical procedure in an effort to find some relief. And he had been sidelined about two weeks before being cleared to return to work on the weekend.

But it was a short shift – three batters and 13 pitches in the first inning before Sanchez excused himself after the nail split, causing it to bleed.

The Blue Jays were able to recover from that body blow, scoring three runs in an adventurous eighth inning to subdue the Rays 3-1 before close to 43,000 at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays also celebrated with the 1,000th hit of Jose Bautista's Toronto career, a big run-scoring double in the eighth that helped spark the comeback.

The Blue Jays (8-17) have posted back-to-back wins for the first time this season. And the 2-1 series win over the Rays was their first series victory after seven straight setbacks to start the year.

"We've had our struggles, obviously, this whole month between everything – defensively, hitting, pitching, bullpen," Toronto relief pitcher Ryan Tepera said. "So good thing the month is over."

Sanchez and the Blue Jays are hoping his latest finger mishap is not serious and he won't have to miss a start.

Tepera played no small role in the Toronto triumph, starting the second inning and setting career highs in both innings pitched (3 1/3) and strikeouts (five).

Tepera was one of six Blue Jays relievers on Sunday, and the oft-victimized group responded by limiting Tampa Bay to four hits and one run.

The game was 0-0 heading into the eighth inning where Logan Morrison scored from third base on a sacrifice bunt by Daniel Robertson that lifted the Rays in front 1-0.

Toronto got to business in the bottom of the frame, when Rays starter Chris Archer walked Darwin Barney.

After a groundout by Kevin Pillar, Alex Colome came in to pitch for the Rays and Bautista lashed his milestone hit off the wall in left, a double that scored Barney to tie the game.

"I'll get to enjoy it when my career's over and hopefully I'll get some more," Bautista said. "But it does kind of bring you back to the long time I've been here and the success that I've enjoyed. So it's always fun when you can do it while contributing to a win."

A single by Russell Martin that just fell fair down the right-field line brought Bautista home with the winning run and a pinch-hit single by Ezequiel Carrera added an insurance marker.

The game began with a bit of a stir when Archer threw a pitch behind Bautista's back in the first inning. Bautista simply held his ground in the batter's box, glowering at Archer, who glowered back.

The pitch prompted home plate umpire Jim Wolf to issue warnings to both benches.

After Bautista flew out to right and was circling back across the infield to the dugout he exchanged words with Archer near the mound.

Bautista was coy about the incident after the game, saying he had no idea if Archer might have been throwing at him with intent, something that Archer denied.

"I was just trying to go inside and the ball got away from me a little bit," he said.

Toronto manager John Gibbons said the fact that the umpire issued a warning to both benches is an indication that Wolf thought something was untoward and that he hopes the league will take punitive action against Archer.

"I would expect that there would be some sort of suspension with the way they [the league] handle things now," Gibbons said.