The skid continues - Jays lose 8-1 to Rays

Is this rock bottom?

The Toronto Blue Jays entered play 2 games back in the AL East and tied for a Wildcard spot with the Baltimore Orioles and hoped to break out of a rather prolonged slump on Wednesday afternoon.

(BOXSCORE for Mobile)

And, to their credit, things started well. Marco Estrada (8-8 with a 3.68 ERA) started the day for the Blue Jays and struck out five of the first six batters he faced and was perfect through three innings.

The offence, on the other hand, manufactured a run early with a Devon Travis double and a Michael Saunders bunt to set up an Edwin Encarnacion sac fly (he's an RBI guy, don'tchaknow?).

Then things went south.

In the 4th, Kevin Kiermaier, with a runner on, managed to just get enough of a ball to put it over the wall for a homerun. Didn't look like it was going to go, much like some HR's the Jays got earlier this week, but it did and it counted, giving the Rays the lead. Later that inning Corey Dickerson singled home Brad Miller for the Rays third run.

3-1 Rays

Meanwhile, Alex Cobb was making just his third start of the season after returning from Tommy John surgery. And he locked down the once feared Jays offence. Which has now become just sort of above average but hardly feared. He'd go 6.2 IP allowing just a single run on 2 H, 4 K's and 3BB.

More Rays offence in the 6th with a Corey Dickerson homerun off reliever Matt Dermody, a 2-run shot which closed the book on Estrada (the runner on base was his). Estrada's final line: 5.1 IP, 4 ER on 4 H, 7 K's and 3 BB. He started off strong but things didn't go his way.

Logan Forsythe singled home a run later in the inning to make the score 6-1 for the Rays, and in the 9th the Rays put it out of reach with a Miller sac-fly and a Dickerson fielder's choice. The Jays finished the game with just the two hits off Cobb, and just the single run in the 1st.

Jays lose.

Tampa Bay Rays 8 - 1 Toronto Blue Jays

I heard following the game that in eight of the last nine years the Rays have won the season series against the Blue Jays. So, that's a thing.

Jays of the Day

The fans who managed to sit through the entire game.

Suckage

Estrada (-.127), Dermody (-.130), the entire Blue Jays offence (-.217)