Rays rough up Jeff Hoffman to snap Blue Jays' four-game winning streak

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The start of the longest homestand of the season featured four long balls by the Blue Jays, who returned to Rogers Centre following a three-game sweep in Seattle that saw the visitors score a combined 21 runs, including a season-high nine in Sunday’s series finale.

Toronto entered Tuesday night riding a four-game winning streak.

The stage appeared set for the good times to continue as the Blue Jays faced the Rays for the first time this season in a matchup of AL East rivals. Tampa had other ideas in jumping out to a 4-0 lead.

The Blue Jays comeback then kicked into action in the most timely of fashions before suffering the cruelest of setbacks in an eventual 11-9 loss.

Daulton Varsho went deep twice, including a clutch three-run bomb deposited into the right-field seats that gave Toronto a 7-6 lead.

The stage was set for Jeff Hoffman to close the deal on what turned out to be one of the wildest nights of the season. Instead, he had his poorest appearance of the season in yielding five runs in the ninth inning punctuated by a Junior Caminero grand slam.

Here are three takeaways on a night the Jays would score nine runs for the second game in a row, while yielding double-digit runs for the fourth time this season.

1. GOOD AS GOLD

There’s plenty to like about Varsho when he’s in the starting lineup. His reputation in the field is well earned.

When he’s producing at the plate, Varsho provides a much-needed power presence. His introduction to the team was ushered in two years ago in St. Louis on opening day when Varsho batted cleanup, a role that took many by surprise.

Firmly established in the lineup, no longer is anyone taken aback when Varsho goes deep.

For the fourth time this season, he homered as the Jays cut Tampa’s lead to 4-3.

Varsho hit in the No. 5 hole behind George Springer.

Interestingly, home run No. 5 came in the biggest moment

Baseball is such an exercise in routine that switching the lineup would be viewed as revolutionary by some. It took a hot stretch by Springer to move the veteran up in the order.

Anthony Santander has yet to find his footing, but his name in the No. 3 slot has been a constant.

The second game of this three-game set will feature a Varsho Gold Glove bobblehead giveaway. Fans tend to line up hours before first pitch for that type of promotion. Tuesday night’s giveaway will be no different.

Varsho lived up to his Gold Glove reputation by making a highlight-reel sliding catch in left field to end the eighth inning.

2. BERRIOS BOUNCED

A harbinger of things to come surfaced almost from the moment Jose Berrios took to the mound.

Berrios hasn’t been as sharp this season as he’s been in the past for the Blue Jays.

On opening day against visiting Baltimore, Berrios was not good in surrendering three home runs. He wasn’t as bad in his ninth start of the season Tuesday, but he needs to be better.

In the first inning against the Rays, Berrios needed 20 pitches to retire the side, an inning that featured two walks being issued. Berrios would give up five hits, including a homer, and four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.

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3. DELIGHTFUL DANNY

Some authentic feelings of appreciation were accorded to Danny Jansen, the former Blue Jays catcher who was traded to Boston last season.

As a Red Sox, Jansen made baseball history in playing for both teams in the same game, an oddity caused when rain at Fenway Park forced the rest of the game to be postponed to another date.

In the series opener, Jansen played his first game in Toronto as a member of the Rays and hit his second homer of the season. He entered the night batting .160.

When he played in Toronto, Jansen and Alejandro Kirk formed a solid catching tandem.

An issue that seems to continue to haunt Jansen is getting hit by pitches. He was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat, but wasn’t injured.

When he went deep off left-hander Mason Fluharty, it was the first hit Fluharty had yielded against a right-handed batter.

UP NEXT

Toronto’s scheduled starter Tuesday night is Chris Bassitt, the crafty veteran who needs a bounce-back outing following a recent rough patch that has seen the right-hander yield two homers in each of his past three starts; in his past four starts, Bassitt has given up 15 earned runs, including four in Anaheim last week when the Jays offence bailed him out in an 8-5 victory.