Rays get strong pitching but fall in 10th on Rasmus HR

Published Sep. 4, 2014 10:30 p.m. ET

foxsports

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Tampa Bay Rays were shut out for the 17th time, and to manager Joe Maddon, the latest one felt like all the others.

''In a microcosm kind of a way, that's 2014 right there,'' Maddon said after Thursday night's 1-0 loss in 10 innings to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pinch-hitter Colby Rasmus opened the 10th with a home run off Steve Geltz (0-1) and the Blue Jays won their fifth straight, earning their first three-game sweep at Tampa Bay.

The Rays had runners at first and third with none out, and the bases loaded with one out, in the ninth. But reliever Brett Cecil (2-3) worked out of the jam by striking out Brandon Guyer, Logan Forsythe and Sean Rodriguez around an intentional walk to Evan Longoria.

''To not even make contact in that moment, that's the tough part about it,'' Maddon said. ''Those guys are in there to hit lefties and we didn't even move the ball. But that's been a problem for us all year. That's nothing new. We've had a hard time with the bases loaded.''

Casey Janssen got three outs for his 21st save.

Toronto won the first two games of the series to stop a streak of 22 consecutive winless road series (including one in Orlando) against the Rays, dating to April 6-8, 2007.

Both starters, Toronto's Mark Buehrle and the Rays' Jake Odorizzi, had impressive outings.

Buehrle, who is 1-8 in 16 starts since June 7, allowed five hits, one walk and struck out four over eight innings. He started the season 10-1 over his first 12 starts.

Odorizzi, coming off a 7-0 win Saturday over Boston in which he allowed just one hit, gave up three hits, walked none and had three strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings.

''I felt tike I was in control. I never felt like I was in a jam,'' Odorizzi said. ''I had a guy on second base but I still felt totally in control of the game. I was just going about my business.''

Anthony Gose had a one-out double in the sixth, but Odorizzi got a liner from Jose Reyes and struck out Melky Cabrera.

The Rays joined the 2003 Detroit Tigers and the 1998 Devil Rays as the only American League teams to be shut out this many times in one season.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Blue Jays: RHP Chad Jenkins is expected to miss the rest of the regular season after breaking his pitching hand while shagging balls in batting practice -- making him the second Toronto pitcher in two days to get hurt during pregame warmups. RHP R.A. Dickey threw 62 pitches Thursday during his regular bullpen session between starts, one day after he was struck in the head by Evan Longoria's drive while standing in the left-field corner during BP.

Rays: CF Desmond Jennings is frustrated by lingering left knee soreness, but hopes to play before the season ends. He has missed seven straight games.

UP NEXT

Blue Jays: RHP Drew Hutchison (9-11) and Red Sox RHP Allen Webster (3-3) are the scheduled starters Friday night at Fenway Park.

Rays: RHP Alex Cobb (9-7) is set to face Baltimore LHP Wei-Yin Chen (14-4) on Friday night.