Stephen Matz made his fourth consecutive start, Marcus Simien scored three home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Tampa Bay Rise 5-3 Friday evening.
Matz (4-0), gained in January from the New York Mets, allowed three runs and five strokes over five innings. He was left-handed 0-5 with a 9.68 ERA with New York last year.
Toronto also had a single Homer contribution from Randall Grechuk. Raphael Doulis, the fourth savior, clinched the ninth game and scored his first save.
Randy Arosarina collided with Homer in three runs for Rays. Tyler Glasnow (2-1), who got into the game with 0.73 ERA, allowed five runs and the same number of strokes during a six-stroke effort that included 10 strokes.
The Blue Jays started a series of three games in Tampa Bay. Puerto Rican manager, Charlie Montoyo, called her “a bit crazy” for good reason.
Tampa is near TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida, where the Blue Jays are playing their home games due to travel restrictions in Canada due to the pandemic.
For the Blue Jays, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored 3–1 in one half. Cuban Lourdes Juriel Jr. 4-0.
For Ray, Cuban Yandi Diaz scored 3-1 in one game, and Arosarina scored 4-2 in one round and produced three. Dominican Manuel Margot 4-0, Francisco Mejia 4-0, Willie Adams 2-0.
