TORONTO -- It has been a long time between major league wins for Nick Tepesch.

Before he pitched six-plus innings to earn the decision in the Toronto Blue Jays' 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night, he had not won since Sept. 16, 2014, when he was with the Texas Rangers.

It came at the right time for the Blue Jays, who have won eight of their past 12 games.

"It's huge for any ballclub when your starter is able to give you some depth and also put up a lot of zeroes," said Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning. "He did a great job of battling all throughout the game, wiggled his way out of some trouble there. I thought it was a huge start for us."

It was the second start for Tepesch with the Blue Jays. He allowed three home runs in taking the loss against the New York Yankees Wednesday.

"I thought his command was a little better tonight," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He stayed on the attack. We got some breaks, we ran some balls down. He hung in there. We had a depleted bullpen tonight."

Tepesch (1-2) allowed only one homer Monday and that was to Wilson Ramos in the second inning, although at least four Tampa Bay outs against him were caught at the warning track.

"We hit some balls really hard, we hit some balls really high," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "It looked like we had four or five just-misses."

The Rays (59-61) have lost four in a row.

Tepesch gave up four hits and three walks. The right-hander hit two batters and had no strikeouts as the Blue Jays (57-61) won their third game in a row.

Roberto Osuna pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings to earn his 30th save of the season.

Rays starter Jake Odorizzi (6-6) allowed three hits, three walks and two runs while striking out four in six innings.

"After the first inning, everything felt really great," Odorizzi said. "Just something to build on."

Tepesch did not get an out in the seventh, hitting Peter Bourjos with a pitch and walking Daniel Robertson before being replaced by Aaron Loup.

Corey Dickerson's short-hop grounder to second forced Robertson at second. Bourjos, who returned to the bag at second, was declared safe after a video review that took 3:07.

Lucas Duda struck out looking and Evan Longoria hit a bloop to second to end the inning.

"I just felt like I made some better pitches at some critical times," Tepesch said. "I let the one inning get away from me and left Loup in a tough spot at the end but he bailed us out of it and did a great job."

Tampa Bay's Sergio Romo pitched around a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh.

After Loup gave up a walk and struck out two in the top of the eighth, he was replaced by Osuna, who ended the inning on a groundout to shortstop by Ramos.

Tampa Bay's Brad Boxberger allowed a leadoff double to Donaldson and issued an intentional walk in two-thirds of an inning in the bottom of the eighth before Dan Jennings finished the inning.

Toronto led 2-0 in the first inning when Donaldson belted his 17th homer of the season, following Jose Bautista's leadoff walk.

"Just a high fastball," Odorizzi said. "He put enough on it that it was able to get out. I was trying to elevate and he got enough of it. It's a game of inches. If that's a couple of inches shorter, we might have had a 1-0 game."

Ramos cut the lead to 2-1 with two outs in the second when he ended an 0-for-10 drought with his fourth home run of the season.

The Rays loaded the bases in the fourth inning on two walks and a hit batter with two outs. The inning ended when Dickerson flied out to the warning track in right field.

"(Tepesch) really gave us just what we needed and Loup, you can't say enough about the job he came in and did," Gibbons said.

NOTES: Rays RHP Chase Whitley was recalled from Triple-A Durham Monday after the team sent LHP Jose Alvarado down on option on Sunday. ... Toronto LHP Tim Mayza was selected from Triple-A Buffalo Monday, and RHP Leonel Campos was returned to the Bisons on option. RHP Taylor Cole (fractured right toe) was given his unconditional release to clear space on the 40-man roster. ... Toronto RHP Chris Smith cleared waivers Monday and was assigned outright to Buffalo. He had been designated for assignment on Saturday. ... Rays LHP Blake Snell (0-6, 4.69 ERA) will face Blue Jays RHP Marco Estrada (5-7, 4.85) on Tuesday.