George Springer went 4-for-5 with a solo home run and two RBIs as the Toronto Blue Jays demolished the Tampa Bay Rays 20-1 on Tuesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Springer finished a double away from hitting for the cycle as the Blue Jays ended a five-game losing streak.
Toronto had 27 hits, the highest single-game total in the majors this year. Tampa Bay used position players to pitch the final two innings, and they yielded 10 runs.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a ninth-inning grand slam and drove in six runs, and Matt Chapman and Danny Jansen added two-run homers in the ninth.
Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios (4-4) allowed one run, five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven innings.
Isaac Paredes hit a solo home run for the Rays, who won the opener of the four-game series on Monday.
Rays right-hander Taj Bradley (3-1) gave up nine hits and four runs while amassing seven strikeouts and no walks in four innings.
Toronto opened the first inning with successive singles by Springer, Bo Bichette and Guerrero to score one run. Bradley struck out the next three batters.
Springer hit his seventh homer of the season in the third.
Toronto’s Whit Merrifield led off the fourth with a single and scored on Jansen’s double. Jansen continued to third on the throw home and scored on Springer’s checked-swing infield hit for a 4-0 lead.
Zack Burdi replaced Bradley in the fifth and allowed six runs. Chapman walked with one out, stole second, then took third on a single by Merrifield, who stole second. Daulton Varsho hit a two-run single.
Jansen hit a ground-rule double. A wild pitch scored a run, and Kevin Kiermaier hit a sacrifice fly to plate another. Springer tripled and scored on a wild pitch, Bichette reached second on a throwing error by third baseman Paredes before Guerrero hit an RBI single for a 10-0 lead.
Paredes homered in the bottom of the seventh for the Rays’ lone run.
Luke Raley moved from first base to the mound in the eighth and allowed one run on an RBI single by Chapman.
In the ninth, Raley allowed Guerrero’s eighth homer of the season and Chapman’s seventh. Catcher Christian Bethancourt served up Jansen’s sixth homer of the season.
Blue Jays right-hander Adam Cimber was reinstated from the injured list pregame and pitched a scoreless ninth inning. He had been sidelined since April 24 due to right rhomboid strain.
–Field Level Media