Jays 3B Donaldson to get MRI on sore hip

Nearly a month later, Ramirez connected again, this time helping give Smyly a win. His previous homer, on August 15, was a solo shot off Smyly at Tampa Bay when Ramirez was still with the Padres.

“It never really got to where I felt comfortable with it, so we went and had it looked at today and we’ll get the results, hopefully, tonight”, Donaldson said. “He’s a good hitter, man”.

Hardy’s three-run blast was his 10th homer of the year, while Reimold’s two-run bomb was his sixth. Marcus Stroman has had flashes of his old self recently, but hasn’t been able to put it all together, and the same could be said for Francisco Liriano. “Here I am with an opportunity”.

The Blue Jays have now lost their last four series and have won just four of their last 14.

The once-mighty Jays offence has done a 180, morphing into a bottom-three attack over the past couple of weeks, although Estrada said bad luck has been at play too, since numerous lineups’ outs have been from good contact. Lefty Blake Snell (5-8, 3.62 ERA) will open the series for the Rays and Yovani Gallardo (5-7, 5.44 ERA) will take the mound for the O’s. He allowed two runs and five hits.

“It’s tough (to sit out) but we still control our own destiny at the end of the day”, Donaldson said. “Every time you face them, you know you have to be on point, you have to be commanding the ball well”.

“The amount if progress I’ve made in the last two starts has been tremendous”, Cobb said.

Playing for the third straight game without offensive catalyst third baseman Josh Donaldson, who continues to be plagued by a sore hip, the Blue Jays started out strong against the Rays.

This is three straight missed starts for Donaldson, who is nursing a hip injury as well as a lingering thumb issue. Martin’s 18th homer of the season with two outs in the sixth trimmed the lead to 3-2, also scoring Jose Bautista, who had walked.

Kevin Kiermaier hit his 12th homer on the year and went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs driven in.

“We’ve just got to start winning some games, that’s for sure”, Blue Jays’ manager John Gibbons said.

“Another big knock here or there and maybe we would’ve had a different outcome, but it just wasn’t our night tonight”, Martin said.

The right-hander struck out the Rays’ first five batters of the game, becoming the first Blue Jays pitcher to achieve the feat. They have eight home games remaining.

The Jays’ schedule features six National League opponents: The Brewers (home and away), the St. Louis Cardinals (away), the Atlanta Braves (home), the Cincinnati Reds (home), the Pittsburgh Pirates (home), and the Chicago Cubs (away). The Blue Jays are tied with the Orioles for the AL wild-card spots and two games behind Boston in the East. The defending AL MVP is 0-for-23 during a career-worst seven-game hitless streak.3.

NATIONALS 1, METS 0: Tanner Roark (15-8) pitched seven scoreless innings and Wilson Ramos homered in the seventh inning for the game’s only run as Washington won at home.

Dylan Bundy (9-5) escaped with a victory after a rocky 5 1/3-inning start, giving up three runs on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts. This will be Cobb’s third start in the majors since returning from Tommy John surgery.