ST. PETERSBURG -- The Blue Jays’ lineup has waited for a night like Tuesday for about six weeks.
The fact that it came against the team with the best record in the American League and inside a stadium that has been the site of so much disappointment for Toronto made its outburst that much more remarkable.
The Blue Jays crushed three homers in their 10-5 series-opening victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field. It was the first time the Blue Jays had scored double-digit runs since their 10-0 win over the Giants on July 8 -- 34 games ago.
That game was also the last time the Blue Jays plated multiple runs in the first inning. But they did that Tuesday thanks to an RBI single from George Springer and an RBI double by Jesús Sánchez. And the bats just didn’t stop; Toronto scored two runs in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings.
Catcher Alejandro Kirk, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, cracked the club’s first homer of the game -- a two-run shot to left-center in the third. Kazuma Okamoto followed with a solo dinger to the same area of the Trop, though his landed about 30 feet further into the seats. His Statcast-projected 442-foot clout was his first in 17 games and his 25th of the season, breaking a tie with Eric Hinske for the most homers by a Blue Jays rookie.
Josh Smith then lined a two-run shot out to right field in the seventh inning.
Most of the damage came against Rays starter and All-Star right-hander Nick Martinez, who had limited Toronto to two runs on two hits through two previous starts (11 innings) this season. On Tuesday, the Blue Jays tagged him for six runs in 3 2/3 frames in Martinez’s shortest outing of the year.
The 10 runs were also the most the Blue Jays have posted inside Tropicana Field since a 20-1 triumph on May 23, 2023. Toronto entered with a .393 all-time winning percentage at the Trop (92-142) and had scored a grand total of nine runs in its past six games here -- all losses.