Rays 6, Blue Jays 9: Blue Jays Buzzsaw Blisters Rays

When the Rays score 11 runs in two games it's usually a cause for celebration, and at least one win. The opposite is true when they've allowed 19 over that same span. The Blue Jays buzzsaw was in full effect again Tuesday.

Alex Cobb was doing alright through four innings, allowing two runs (though both came with two outs) and throwing 67 pitches. Things began to unravel in the fifth. Jose Reyes lined a ball off Cobb's leg for a single. After a Melky Cabrera groundout, Jose Bautista singled up the middle scoring Reyes. The very next pitch Cobb threw, a curveball to Adam Lind, was sent over the wall in left-center. Two pitches later Edwin Encarnacion would also homer to left field. In a span of four pitches Cobb had allowed four runs and the game would never be in reach again.

The pitch to Encarnacion wasn't bad by any means. Well, it wasn't a strike, and might have hit him had he stood closer to the plate, but thats the ways things are going for Toronto at the moment.

Had the Rays been able to keep Toronto to six runs they might still be playing. Instead, Cesar Ramos and Josh Lueke combined to allow three additional runs that were the difference in the 9-6 loss. I don't mind the usage of Lueke in that situation. You're down 8-4 at the time and don't want to use a good bullpen arm like Jake McGee or Juan Carlos Oviedo. It just seems like an inevitability a run is going to score when Lueke enters the game.

As I mentioned in the opening, the offense did well. Every starter contributed in some way. Hell, Jose Molina had his first multi-hit game of the season. The offensive hero of the night was Sean Rodriguez who drove in three runs with a double and triple. He now has 19 hits on the season, and 13 have gone for extra bases. I don't have the updated data for all the players in MLB, but Rodriguez now has an Isolate Slugging Percentage (SLG% minus AVG) of .342, which would be just ahead of Troy Tulowitzki's league leading total of .341 (min 80 PA).

Though the team scored six runs, they were 1-8 with runners in scoring position while Toronto was 5-9 and that was the difference in the game.

Chris Archer is coming off his most dominant start of the season. Here's hoping he can keep it going against the murderer's row Toronto throws out there.