TORONTO — It all started with a miss.
Kevin Kiermaier’s mishandling of a fly ball to deep left-center field led to a five-run third inning off Corey Kluber on Friday, and another loss by the Rays, this one 9-2 to the Blue Jays.
After Cavan Biggio’s one-out fly ball glanced off Kiermaier’s glove as he attempted a basket catch racing toward the wall, the Jays had runners on third and second base. Kluber walked George Springer to load the bases, then allowed three consecutive doubles — to Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guererro Jr. and Alejandro Kirk — that led to five runs.
By the time Kluber retired Santiago Espinal on a fielder’s choice grounder to end the inning, he had faced 11 batters — the most in any single frame of his 240-game career — and had thrown 35 pitches.
And the Rays, who have been struggling offensively for weeks, were pretty much done, trailing 5-1 before a festive Canada Day sellout crowd of 44,445.
The loss was the Rays’ season high-matching fourth straight, and 11th in their last 16 games, dropping them to 40-36. That keeps them in fourth place in the American League East and out of the six-team playoff field.
They had baserunners in each of the five innings against Jays starter Jose Berrios, and eight hits and two walks total, but only two runs.
They got one in the second, when Harold Ramirez singled, went to third on Josh Lowe’s double and scored on Rene Pinto’s ground out.
And another in the fifth when Kiermaier, in his first game back after a 10-day injured list stint, reached on an infield single and scored on a double by Ramirez.
Reliever David McKay, in his Rays debut, had a tough outing, allowing four runs over two innings.
Brett Phillips took over on the mound to pitch the eighth inning.
