Rays homer their Way to Victory over Blue Jays

Desmond Jennings #8 of the Tampa Bay Rays is congratulated by Curt Casali #19 after hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 16, 2016 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

(May 16, 2016 - Source: Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images North America)

The Tampa Bay Rays (17-19) hit four home runs as they win 13-2 at the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of their three-game series.

Tampa Bay had multiple-run homers in each of the first three innings. 1B Steve Pearce hit a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the first inning. SS Taylor Motter, who made his big league debut, came home for the other run.

LF Desmond Jennings and C Curt Casali were in scoring position in the second inning when a sacrifice flyball from CF Kevin Kiermaier drove in Jennings for Tampa Bay’s third run of the game. 2B Tim Beckham followed with his first home run of the season to give the Rays a 5-0 lead.

3B Evan Longoria opened the third inning with a single and advanced to second base on a fielding error by LF Michael Saunders. Steve Pearce, the next batter, walked. RF Steven Souza Jr. followed with a single to right center and Evan Longoria came home for Tampa Bay’s sixth run.

The Blue Jays made a pitching change and replaced SP J.A. Happ with RP Dustin Antolin. Antolin retired Desmond Jennings before giving up a three-run homer to Curt Casali.

J.A. Happ (5-1) surrendered 7 hits, 1 walk and 8 earned runs while striking out 2. His ERA and WHIP increased to 3.40 and 1.27, respectively.

The Rays added two more runs in the fourth inning. Desmond Jennings hit a two-out double and drove in Evan Longoria and Steven Souza Jr. for an 11-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Toronto’s manager John Gibbons was tossed from the game for arguing a strikeout on SS Troy Tulowitzki.

Tampa Bay did not score a run in the fifth inning but the Blue Jays finally got on the scoreboard. RF Jose Bautista hit an RBI-single with one out and batted 2B Darwin Barney home.

Both teams exchanged a run in the eighth inning. Taylor Motter scored for Tampa Bay on an RBI-single by Steve Pearce. DH Edwin Encarnacion drove in RF Ezequiel Carrera for Toronto.

Tampa Bay’s last run came from a leadoff homer in the ninth inning. Desmond Jennings hammered the ball 384 ft. into the stands for a final score of 13-2.

SP Drew Smyly (2-4) pitched 5 innings, allowing 4 hits, 4 walks and 1 earned run while striking out 6. He now has a 3.44 ERA with a 0.99 WHIP on the season.

Desmond Jennings went 3-for-5 with 2 runs, 1 HR and 3 RBI. He is batting .185 this season and has 10 runs, 2 HR, 9 RBI.

Taylor Motter batted 1-for-4 in his debut, walked once and scored 2 runs.