Tampa Bay Rays at Toronto Blue Jays

It should come as no surprise, given the final score, that the Rays did an awful lot of things well throughout their 12-2 win over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre. Drew Rasmussen pitched into the sixth inning, bouncing back from a couple rough starts before the All-Star break. Chandler Simpson and Ben Williamson each had four hits. Nick Fortes homered for the second time in as many days as part of a three-hit, four-RBI night. Yandy Díaz blasted a three-run homer in the ninth inning of his 1,000th Major League game. The Rays racked up a season-high 21 hits overall, tied for the third most in a game in franchise history and their most since a 17-2 win over the Orioles on Sept. 5, 2007. That was also the last time Tampa Bay had eight players record multiple hits in the same game, as the lineup did Tuesday night for the sixth time in team history. “They were incredible,” Rasmussen said. “That’s unbelievable. Nights like this don’t happen very often.” But it likely would have been a different story if not for what happened in the first inning. Those six outs and 60 pitches defined the night for both the struggling Blue Jays and the first-place Rays, who improved their American League-leading record to 58-42 after 100 games. For the Rays: two outs, nobody on … and three runs. For the Jays: bases loaded, one out … and nothing to show for it. Manager Kevin Cash and several players agreed that Díaz effectively set the tone for the entire night in the game’s first at-bat. He saw 12 pitches from Toronto starter Kevin Gausman, including six foul balls, before lining out to center field. Jonathan Aranda was quickly retired after that, but the Rays -- like Díaz -- wouldn’t go down easily. “A lot of impressive at-bats, and I think Yandy's at-bat was very impressive,” Cash said. Junior Caminero drew the first of his three walks to start the two-out rally. Up came Cedric Mullins, who fell behind in the count before pulling a double to right field. That brought up Jonny DeLuca, who swung at a pitch outside the strike zone and knocked it to right, driving in Caminero and Mullins.