Tampa Bay 8, Toronto 3
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, September 2, 2016
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
John Tumpane, 1B -
Brian O'Nora, 2B -
Pat Hoberg, 3B -
Jeff Kellogg
Attendance:
12602
By The Sports Xchange
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Alex Cobb came off the mound after five innings, and even with the score tied 2-2, had the comfort of knowing his first outing in nearly two years had a feel of familiarity to it.
"I was happy in the fact that I felt back to competitive nature on the mound," Cobb said of his return from Tommy John surgery last year, part of an 8-3 win for the Rays over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Tropicana Field. "It wasn't being cautious, wasn't thinking about my mechanics or injury possibilities. I was just out there, wanting to get outs and I felt the groove of the game again."
Cobb held the Blue Jays to the two runs in five innings, the Rays bats taking over after he left. Logan Morrison hit a two-run home run in the sixth for the lead, and Luke Maile and Brad Miller added home runs in the seventh to pull away.
"I thought Stroman was really good," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He gives up the home run to Morrison late, and that was pretty much the game."
Toronto (76-58) came into the night with a two-game lead atop the American League East, but dropped to 6-8 against the last-place Rays (57-76) this season. Starter Marcus Stroman (9-6) gave up the lead in the sixth on Morrison's 12th home run of the season, while Danny Farquhar (1-0) picked up the win after a scoreless inning of relief.
Eddie Gamboa, a 31-year-old knuckleballer called up as rosters expanded, made his major league debut for the Rays in the eighth, getting a strikeout but walking two and giving up a run. Toronto had two runners on for Melvin Upton, but Brad Boxberger struck him out to end the inning and the rally.
Cobb ran into trouble early but got into rhythm, leaving after five innings with a 2-2 tie against a potent first-place lineup.
Toronto struck early, getting a ground-rule double from Josh Donaldson that caromed off one of the catwalks high above the field and an RBI double by Edwin Encarnacion off the wall in left field for a 1-0 lead. Russell Martin brought Encarnacion home with an RBI single past shortstop to make it 2-0.
From there, Cobb allowed only one hit in his remaining four innings, striking out seven batters and walking only one and leaving after 84 pitches.
"I wouldn't say my stuff was exactly where I want it to be," Cobb said. "It's back to the point where I can at least go out there and compete, can know I have hopefully two pitches I can deal with, to be as creative as I can to get guys out."
Toronto starter Marcus Stroman gave up single runs in the second and third, with the Rays scoring on RBI groundouts in each inning.
Logan Morrison walked to open the second, got to third on Nick Franklin's double and scored on a ground ball from Corey Dickerson to cut the lead to 2-1.
In the third, the Rays got a single from Logan Forsythe, a fielding error from Devon Travis at second to allow Kevin Kiermaier to reach and an RBI groundout from Brad Miller to tie the game.
"I thought he got a couple of innings under his belt, settled in and threw the ball really well," Gibbons said of Cobb's return. "He might have looked a little rusty early, but it's been a while since he's been in the big leagues. He's always been one of the better competitors in the game."
NOTES: The Rays recalled C Curt Casali and RHP Ryan Garton from Triple-A Durham, and selected the contract of RHP Eddie Gamboa from Durham. He's the second knuckleball pitcher in Rays history joining RHP Dennis Springer, who played in 1998. ... Toronto also expanded its roster, recalling 2B Devon Travis from Class A Bluefield and OF Dalton Pompey, OF Darrell Ceciliani, RHP Danny Barnes and RHP Ryan Tepera from Triple-A Buffalo. They also selected the contract of LHP Matt Dermody from Buffalo and signed C Josh Thole to a major league contract. ... The Jays finally announced starters for the weekend, with RHP Marco Estrada throwing Saturday and LHP J.A. Happ on Sunday. ... The game was played as scheduled after Hurricane Hermine dumped as much as 22 inches of rain on Pinellas County in 72 hours, causing flooding in many areas.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Toronto |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Marcus Stroman
|
Player |
Alex Cobb
|
|
Loss |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
6.0 |
IP |
5.0 |
|
3 |
Strikeouts |
7 |
|
5 |
Hits |
4 |
|
4.50 |
ERA |
3.60 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Toronto
|
6 |
0 |
8 |
.182 |
13 |
12 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
| Tampa Bay
|
8 |
3 |
21 |
.235 |
15 |
7 |
8 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
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