Jake Faria pitched six-plus innings of six hit baseball, and the Tampa Bay Rays used a four-run third inning to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays going away 8-1 Tuesday at Rogers Centre.
Both Faria and Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada each put up shutout frames in the first two innings, including Estrada working out of a bases loaded situation in the second by getting Derek Norris to ground into a double play, but Taylor Featherston opened the scoring by leading off the third with his first homer as a member of the Rays for a 1-0 lead.
Corey Dickerson and Evan Longoria followed with one out with singles, and Logan Morrison busted the game open with his team-leading 18th home run of the year.
The Rays would end up chasing Estrada an inning later after Mallex Smith and Dickerson singled with one out, and Longoria would greet reliever Dominic Leone with a two-run double that stretched the lead to 6-0.
Colby Rasmus would extend the lead to 7-0 in the top of the seventh with a sacrifice fly.
Faria (2-0) would cruise into the home seventh, when he would allow the only run of the game to Toronto in the span of two hitters, as Russell Martin doubled with one out, and Ezequiel Carrera followed with a RBI single.
Austin Pruitt took over after the Carrera single and finished out the game with 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
Dickerson capped the scoring with his fourth hit of the night, a solo shot for his 15th.
Faria becomes just the third starter in franchise history to win his first two career games, joining Jeremy Hellickson in 2010 and Joe Kennedy in 2001.
The win also gets Tampa Bay back to a season-best three games over .500 at 35-32.
The Rays can sweep the short series with a victory in Wednesday's finale, as Jake Odorizzi (4-3, 3.59 ERA) takes on Francisco Liriano (3-2, 5.87 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:07, with coverage on WDAE beginning at 6:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Sykes Lakeland.
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