Pinch hitter Austin Meadows had a pair of RBI singles as the Tampa Bay Rays rolled past the Toronto Blue Jays 11-3 on Friday.
Tommy Pham tripled and drove in two runs for Tampa Bay (86-67), while speedy outfielder Mallex Smith doubled in a run and scored twice himself.
Diego Castillo pitched one inning, giving up Gurriel’s homer, before getting pulled. Normally a reliever, Castillo’s start was part of a starter-by-committee approach the Rays have used all season.
Jalen Beeks (5-1) gave up two runs in his three innings of work, but earned the win before Adam Kolarek, Hunter Wood, Austin Pruitt closed the door.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., had a pair of home runs to lead Toronto’s (70-84) offence. Randal Grichuk added a solo blast of his own.
Gurriel had a two-run shot in Toronto’s seven-run comeback in the ninth inning of Thursday night’s 9-8 victory over Tampa.
His homers on Friday made him the 14th Blue Jay to homers in three consecutive plate appearances and the first rookie to do so.
Starter Sean Reid-Foley (2-4) pitched four-plus innings for the Blue Jays, allowing four runs — two earned— on six hits, striking out five. Jose Fernandez, Mark Leiter Jr., Taylor Guerrieri, Danny Barnes came on in relief.
Fernandez and Leiter gave up two runs apiece before Guerrieri allowed three.
A fielding error at first base by Blue Jays prospect Rowdy Tellez turned an easy groundout by Joey Wendle into a two-run double and gave Tampa a 2-0 in the first inning.
Gurriel answered for Toronto in the bottom of the inning, putting a single shot to dead centre. He connected on Castillo’s 99.1 mph fastball, the fastest pitch any Blue Jay has hit for a home run this season.
Smith added to the Rays lead in the fourth inning, doubling home Jake Bauers with a hit to left-centre field.
Again, Gurriel’s big bat kept Toronto in the game. He hit his second home run of the night in the fourth inning, bringing the 21,167 in attendance to their feet. It was his 11th home run of his rookie season.
Two batters later, Grichuk hit his 24th homer of the season to tie the game at 3-3. He hit Beeks’ 3-0 pitch 464 feet.
Pham re-established Tampa’s lead in the next inning when his triple to right field drove in Ji-Man Choi, who had led off the fifth with a double. That hit chased Reid-Foley from the mound.
Meadows started the sixth inning with a single to right field, scoring C.J. Cron and Smith for Tampa. Meadows had come in for Choi, who left the game with left knee pain. Pham followed that up with a sacrifice fly to deep left field, giving Matt Duffy enough time to run home.
Three hitters later, Willy Adames hit a single to shallow right field to bring home Meadows for an 8-3 lead as part of a four-run sixth inning.
Tampa poured it on in the seventh. Meadows had his second RBI single of the game, driving in Smith. Duffy then scored on a throwing error by Barnes, and Wendle doubled to bring in Meadows.