ST. PETERSBURG -- Brett Cecil's streak of consecutive outings without allowing an earned run came to a crashing halt Tuesday night when he served up the decisive two-run homer to Logan Forsythe in a 3-2 loss to the Rays.
Cecil tied the Major League record for most consecutive outings without an earned run the previous night. Cecil had a shot to claim the record as his own, but instead he will have to settle for a tie at 38 appearances with Craig Kimbrel.
Toronto was leading, 2-1, when Cecil entered in the bottom of the eighth. Cecil began the inning by hitting Kevin Kiermaier, and then two batters later, Forsythe went deep to right field for a two-run shot.
"Cecil had a [heck] of a roll," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "[Forsythe] with the big home run, a good solid hitter. I'm proud of Cecil and what he did."
Prior to Tuesday night, Cecil had not allowed an earned run since June 21, 2015, vs. Baltimore. Between those outings, the veteran lefty didn't allow an earned run over 32 2/3 innings. The only small blemish on Cecil's record during that span came when he allowed an unearned run on Sept. 20 and another unearned run on Sept. 26 of last year.
Cecil was bound to give up a run at some point, but the timing of Tuesday's outing was less than ideal. Forsythe's two-run shot gave the Rays a one-run lead heading into the ninth.
"It always impresses me, but doesn't surprise me," Rays manager Kevin Cash said of Forsythe. "He got off the first two ballgames, squared up some balls, hit some ground balls in the hole and got shut out of some hits. Today, he comes out and barrels everything at the plate."