Rays belt three homers to down Blue Jays 7-1 to open four-game series

Toronto Blue Jays' Alejandro Kirk (30) hits an RBI single against the Tampa Bay Rays, scoring teammate George Springer during fourth inning MLB baseball action in Toronto on Monday, July 20, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jon Blacker

TORONTO — Victor Mesa Jr., Cedric Mullins and Nick Fortes all belted solo blasts as the Tampa Bay Rays hammered the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1 in the opener of their series Monday night.

Mesa knocked out his eighth with one out in the second before Mullins led off the sixth with his 12th as the American League-leading Rays (57-42) halted a five-game losing streak before 40,837 at Rogers Centre. Fortes slammed his third leading off the ninth inning.

Dylan Cease (6-5) gave up the first two homers while reliever Brendon Little was on the hook for the final blast. Cease also was undone by his defence in the fifth inning as errors by Kazuma Okamoto and Andres Gimenez led to two unearned runs.

Cease lasted six innings with 101 pitches, yielding three earned runs on seven hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.

Nick Martinez (9-2) also went six innings, giving up a run on six hits with a walk and no strikeouts.

The Blue Jays (46-54) slid to eight games under .500, the most in 2026. Their offence continued to sputter as Alejandro Kirk’s two-out bouncer through the right side of the infield in the fourth accounted for their only run.

The Blue Jays have scored only six times in four games since the all-star break, losing three of those outings.

Rays third baseman Junior Caminero went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a single for two RBIs.

Takeaways

Blue Jays: Kirk’s run-scoring single in the fourth inning ended Toronto’s runless streak at 16 innings.

Rays: With Martinez on the hill, Tampa Bay has won his last five starts with two no-decisions.

Key moment

After Toronto scored in the fourth to pull to within 2-1, the Rays benefited from an Okamoto throwing error and a fielding blunder from Gimenez, leading to a two-run fourth for the visitors.

Key stat

The Blue Jays hit the 100-game mark a year ago at 59-41, 13 wins ahead of their 100-game pace in 2026.

Up next

Toronto’s Kevin Gausman (4-8) will face Rays righty Drew Rasmussen (7-5) in the second outing of the four-game set Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2026.

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press