Chris Archer hadn't allowed a run Sunday when he took the mound in the eighth inning at Rogers Centre, but saw his 1-0 advantage disappeared before the end of the inning, as Toronto scored three times off both him and Alex Colome to take the finale of this three-game weekend series 3-1.
Tampa Bay had finally broken the scoreless game in the top of the inning, with Logan Morrison drawing a leadoff walk off Joe Smith and Derek Norris singling him to second. Shane Peterson popped out to Justin Smoak down the right-field line in foul territory, allowing Morrison to take third, and Daniel Robertson executed the safety squeeze to bring home the first baseman.
Archer started the bottom of the inning by walking Darwin Barney, and getting Kevin Pillar to ground out, though Barney advanced to second. Kevin cash then decided to try and get five outs from Alex Colome, but Jose Bautista doubled off the left-field wall to tie the game, and following an intentional walk to Kendrys Morales and a strikeout of Smoak, Russell Martin's broken bat single broke the tie and an infield single by pinch-hitter Ezequiel Carrera's infield hit gave the Blue Jays some insurance.
While Tampa Bay had a quality start from Archer, Toronto ended up losing their starter Aaron Sanchez after just one inning after his fingernail split. Ryan Tepera worked into the fifth, followed by a pair of scoreless innings from Aaron Loup.
Former Ray J.P. Howell got the final out of in the top of the eighth and earned his first win of 2017.
Tampa Bay finishes the month of April 12-14, and is 2-4 after six games on this eight-game road trip. They'll wrap up the trip with a pair of games in Miami against the Marlins. Jake Odorizzi (1-1, 4.16 ERA) will be activated from the 10-day disabled list to get the start, taking on Wei-Yin Chen. First pitch is scheduled from Marlins Park at 7:10, with coverage on WDAE starting at 6:00 with The Inside Pitch, presented by Sykes Lakeland.
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