TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays wanted to kick off a critical nine-game homestand with a bang to give their fading playoff hopes a boost.
http://www.seahawksfansofficial.com/tyler-lockett-jersey/ . The Tampa Bay Rays ended up showing them how its done. Drew Smyly threw a
two-hit shutout and Evan Longoria homered and drove in three runs as the Rays
dumped the Blue Jays 8-0 on Friday night at Rogers Centre. Wil Myers also went
deep as the Rays pounded out 14 hits in the opener of a three-game series. It
was the seventh loss in nine games for the Blue Jays (65-63), who entered play
four games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League. "When youre
high, everything is going to go your way. When youre struggling, everything is
going to go against you," said Toronto catcher Dioner Navarro. "A couple of
plays here and there probably would have changed the outcome of the game. "But
they outplayed us today, they outpitched us, they outhustled us." Longoria took
Marcus Stromans first pitch in the second inning over the wall to give Tampa Bay
an early 1-0 lead. It was his 16th homer of the season. Tampa Bay took advantage
of some suspect defence in the fifth inning. Matt Joyce led off with a double on
a ball that bounced off right-fielder Jose Bautistas glove as he tried to make a
running catch at the warning track. Longoria walked and James Loney followed
with a grounder to short that should have been a double-play ball. But second
baseman Steve Tollesons throw to first bounced in the dirt, allowing Joyce to
score. The Rays drove Stroman (7-5) from the game in the sixth and burned
reliever Aaron Loup in a four-run frame that put the game out of reach. "I
figured wed come out there tonight with a little more energy," said Blue Jays
manager John Gibbons. "We didnt have it and we made some mistakes, we couldnt
turn that big double play. We laid back on a couple balls, things like that.
"But Smyly was pretty good out there, Ill give him that." It was the first
shutout and first complete game of the southpaws career. Smyly threw 75 of his
105 pitches for strikes, didnt walk a batter and had four strikeouts. "It was
good, I have been waiting for this game," he said. "I didnt know if I was ever
going to get it because I usually have high pitch counts." Stroman, meanwhile,
allowed 10 hits, five earned runs, three walks and had six strikeouts. "I was
just up a little bit," Stroman said. "My sinker was pretty good, change-up wasnt
bad. It was just a couple pitches that I left up, some curve balls that were up
in the zone and they capitalized on it." Smyly (8-10) allowed a single to
Jose Reyes in the first inning and a single to Tolleson in the third before
retiring the next 19 batters in order. "That was, for my money, the best
pitching performance Ive seen from a Ray in this ballpark," said Tampa manager
Joe Maddon. "Truly a really artistic performance tonight." Myers tacked on an
insurance run in the eighth inning with a solo shot off Todd Redmond. Tampa Bay
left 12 men on base while Toronto left just one. Notes: Myers has six homers on
the season. ... Torontos Kyle Drabek worked the seventh. He has pitched three
scoreless innings of relief since his recent callup from triple-A Buffalo. ...
Announced attendance was 28,506 and the game took two hours 45 minutes to play.
... The Rays are the only team in the major leagues with a winning record on the
road (34-29) and a losing record overall (63-65). ... The Blue Jays fell to 5-13
in August. ... Tolleson ended an 0-for-14 drought with his single. ...
Left-hander Mark Buehrle (11-8) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday
afternoon. The Rays will counter with right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (1-2).
http://www.seahawksfansofficial.com/richard-sherman-jersey/ . -- Having already fallen behind because of the NFL lockout, Blaine Gabbert
couldnt afford a lengthy holdout.
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the New York Knicks won their eighth straight game, 93-92 over Philadelphia on
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