ST. PETERSBURG (WDAE) -- Charlie Morton glided through the first three innings of Opening Day Friday, but the second trip through the Toronto order proved to be his undoing.
Morton allowed three runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth, which gave the Blue Jays more than enough offense to take the first game from the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 at Tropicana Field.
Morton allowed just one hit through the first three frames, but loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth. Randal Grichuk's RBI single opened the scoring, and back-to-back sacrifice flies from Rowdy Tellez and Teoscar Hernandez pushed the Blue Jays lead to 3-0.
Mike Brosseau's RBI double cut the deficit back to 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth, but leadoff singles to Danny Jansen and Bo Bichette brought up Cavan Biggio, who took a 3-1 fastball and sent it into the seats for his first home run of the season and a 6-1 lead, knocking Morton (0-1) out of the game.
Yoshi Tsutsugo's two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth off Hyun-Jin Ryu, his first with the Rays, cut the Toronto lead back to 6-3, and Willy Adames ' RBI single in the eighth off Rafael Dolis edged Tampa Bay back to down 6-4, but Tampa Bay could not take advantage later in the inning with the bases loaded and one out, as Yandy Diaz popped out on the first pitch, and Hunter Renfroe was called out on strikes to end the inning.
Tampa Bay also brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth against Blue Jays closer ken Giles after manuel Margot drew a two-out walk, but Brandon Lowe struck out to end the game.
Tampa Bay will look to rebound Saturday, when Ryan Yarbrough takes on Matt Shoemaker. First pitch is scheduled for 3:10, with coverage on WDAE beginning at 2:00 with The Inside Pitch.