Marco Estrada: Marco Estrada not sharp against Rays

The perception is that the Toronto Blue Jays’ recent conversion to a six-man starting pitching rotation was about protecting the current health and future welfare of Aaron Sanchez more than anything else.

Tampa Bay had one of its better nights. I had to battle a lot.They did a good job working some counts, getting deep into counts. “I’m not going to dial it up every time”.

A crowd of 43,134 watched as the Jays were defensively mediocre behind starter Marco Estrada (7-5) and got no support from the bullpen on a night it was required.

Edwin Encarnacion hit his 299th career home run as the Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak against the Rays.

The Blue Jays all-star yielded three runs (two earned) on seven hits and four walks over five shaky innings. It was Toronto’s 17th straight solo home run, the longest streak since the Giants hit 21 in 2011. The Jays were down by 3, but had the bases loaded with none out.

The Jays managed just one hit — a one-out double by Jose Bautista in the first inning — off Smyly before touching him for two runs in the bottom of the fifth. “He made it hard for us”.

“The way we’re viewing this, it’s nearly like we’ll see how this goes and then we will adjust accordingly”, Toronto general manager Ross Atkins said. “I thought I had a chance and then it was a little bit farther than I thought”, Souza said.

Travis, the hero of Monday’s game with four hits and a heads-up read for an out at third off a ground ball, also had the shakes.

The night began ominously enough for the 33-year-old Estrada. Over the past two seasons in which he established his credentials as one of the game’s more reliable right handers, with a devastating changeup, Estrada has actually thrived on less rest, not more.

That shortened the Rays lead to 3-2.

As for the Blue Jays, they’re 37-18 in their last 55 Wednesday games, and 4-0 in Happ’s last four starts in game three of a series. “I was trying to maybe be a little too fine, more fine than I should”.

It wouldn’t get any better for the Jays from there on out either. “I got beat today”.

Logan Forsythe led off the game hitting his 13th homer of the season moving him into second place in homers out of the leadoff spot one ahead of Julio Lugo (2006) and Desmond Jennings (2010).

It is not an argument that Atkins is ready to accept, however.

“We’re putting guys on base”, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said after Tuesday’s loss. “And who is he playing against, and who was catching and how is he feeling and how is his back that game?” The biggest of the hits was probably 3B Evan Longoria’s RBI double in the sixth after the Jays had just closed the gap to 3-2.