Published November 20, 2014
Little went right for the Tampa Bay Rays after B.J. Upton's video review homer.
Kyle Drabek overcame command issues to win for the first time on the road this season, Yunel Escobar hit a tiebreaking homer and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Rays 6-2 on Monday night.
The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the first when Upton was awarded a home run after a review by the umpires determined his fly ball struck an overhanging catwalk.
"I knew it hit the catwalk, and I know the rules in here," Upton said. "I thought it would be an out, but it was a home run."
Upton hit a high fly to center off Drabek. Blue Jays outfielder Colby Rasmus moved toward the warning track, but the ball suddenly dropped in front of him and Upton reached second base.
"I just saw it off the bat and I turned and ran because he took a big swing on it," Rasmus said. "When I looked back, I already lost it."
It was decided after an almost five-minute review by the umpires, lead by crew chief Joe West, that the ball hit in the area that according to the ground rules is a home run.
"That ball came straight down ... obviously it hit something," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
Drabek (4-4), who entered 0-3 with a 5.23 ERA away from home, allowed two runs and three hits in six innings. The right-hander walked six, struck out three and had three wild pitches.
Escobar put Toronto in front 3-2 on a solo homer off Jeremy Hellickson (4-1) in the sixth.
"It was a bad changeup I left up," Hellickson said.
The Blue Jays took advantage of two Tampa Bay errors to go up 6-2 with a three-run eighth. Two runs scored when third baseman Sean Rodriguez was charged with an error for an errant throw to second on Jose Bautista's bases-loaded grounder.
Edwin Encarnacion added an RBI grounder later in the eighth.
"It's just another one of those weird adventures we've been going through," Maddon said after Tampa Bay's fourth loss in five games.
Hellickson gave up five runs — two earned — and eight hits over 7 1-3 innings.
Toronto took a 2-1 lead on Eric Thames' second-inning RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Kelly Johnson in the third.
Rodriguez got the Rays even at 2 on a run-scoring single during the third, an inning in which Drabek threw three wild pitches.
Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie was back in the lineup and went 0 for 4 after serving a four-game suspension. Lawrie was ejected last Tuesday by home plate umpire Bill Miller after complaining about consecutive called strikes. When Lawrie slammed his helmet on the ground, it bounced up and hit Miller on the right hip.
NOTES: No timetable has been announced, but it appears OF-DH Hideki Matsui, playing at Triple-A Durham, may be ready to join the Rays in the near future. "It'll just be (based on) when he's ready," Maddon said. ... The Rays acquired INF Drew Sutton from Pittsburgh for a player to be named or cash considerations. He took the roster spot of INF Jeff Keppinger, who was put on the 15-day DL with a broken right big toe. Keppinger, hit by a foul ball in the dugout on Saturday, is expected to miss three to four weeks.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/rays-struggle-again-lose-6-2-to-blue-jays