{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
Major League Baseball
Toronto 10, Tampa Bay 8
When: 1:07 PM ET, Saturday, September 26, 2015
Where: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Temperature: 65°
Umpires: Home - Manny Gonzalez, 1B - Fieldin Culbreth, 2B - Paul Schrieber, 3B - Mark Wegner
Attendance: 47094

TORONTO -- When David Price and Chris Archer hook up in a pitching matchup, a 10-8 game is the last thing anyone expects.

But that was the result Saturday.

The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 10-8, bolstered by two home runs from Jose Bautista.

Russell Martin also homered for the Blue Jays (89-65), who won their third in a row after entering Saturday with four-game lead over the second-place New York Yankees in the American League East.

The Blue Jays already have clinched at least the second AL wild-card spot, while the Rays (75-80) have been eliminated.

Price (18-5) improved to 9-1 in 11 starts with the Blue Jays. The left-hander allowed six hits, five runs (four earned) and one walk in five innings. He struck out six.

Rays right-hander Chris Archer (12-13) allowed 10 hits, five walks and nine runs in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out three.

"Definitely not my best day across the board," Archer said. "I didn't have my normal fastball command; my slider wasn't as crisp as it has been in the past. When I had opportunities to put guys away, I didn't.

"We scored eight runs; I gave up nine. It stinks because I like to give my team a lot better performance."

Price and Archer were teammates with the Rays until July 31, 2014, when Price was traded to the Detroit Tigers, who traded him to the Blue Jays on July 30 this season.

"The matchup didn't bother me," Archer said. "I've faced great pitchers before -- guys that I know, maybe not know as well as him -- but it had no bearing on my performance today."

Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier homered for the Rays.

The Blue Jays learned Saturday that they had clinched the second American League wild-card spot even though the Los Angeles Angels won Friday. It will be the Blue Jays' first appearance in the postseason since 1993, when they won their second successive World Series.

The Blue Jays celebrated more than planned after the game.

"We had a little talk before the game that we weren't going to do this, do a big celebration," Bautista said, "even though getting into the playoffs means a whole lot, especially for our fan base, which has been waiting for so long. We want to win the division and that's still the goal. That's what I told you after the game. But we just got in here and ... the emotion, the excitement, everything took over, and we just started celebrating.

"We expect to have another one of these when we win the division. That's our goal, and we're going to get there."

Price said, "Any time you put yourself in the postseason like these guys have, you've gotta celebrate."

"Unexpected man," center fielder Kevin Pillar said. "We didn't know we were going to do this, man. It's been a long time for this franchise to get back to the postseason. It's worth some sort of celebration. If you think this is crazy, wait 'til we clinch the division."

The Blue Jays struck for five runs in the first inning -- on a three-run home run by Bautista, the 38th of the season by the right fielder, and a two-run blast by Martin, the career-best 22nd for the Toronto catcher.

"After the first inning, (Archer) was making his pitches," Rays catcher Rene Rivera said. "Besides the first inning, he did a pretty good job."

Like everyone else, Rivera did not expect a high-scoring game. "No, those two guys are tops in the league," he said. "You think about it, you might think it would be a 0-0 game."

The Rays scored four runs in third, three earned.

A leadoff double by Kiermaier, a walk by Rivera and a single by left fielder Brandon Guyer loaded the bases.

Right fielder Steven Souza Jr. hit a long single to right that scored Kiermaier. Rivera scored and Souza took second when second baseman Cliff Pennington was charged with a throwing error on the relay.

Second baseman Logan Forsythe delivered a sacrifice fly and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera hit an RBI single.

The Blue Jays scored two in their half of the third on doubles by shortstop Ryan Goins and Pillar, a walk to Pennington and an RBI double by left fielder Ben Revere.

Kiermaier hit his 10th homer of the season to cut the lead to 7-5.

The Blue Jays extended the lead to 9-5 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Goins and an RBI double by Pillar, who had three hits in the game.

Bautista greeted right-hander Kirby Yates with his 39th homer of the season to lead off the eighth.

The Blue Jays used right-hander Ryan Tepera, left-hander Brett Cecil and right-hander Roberto Osuna in the ninth when the Rays scored three unearned runs -- the result of an error by second baseman Darwin Barney.

Osuna allowed RBI singles to pinch hitters Grady Sizemore and John Jaso before picking up his 19th save.

NOTES: The game was the Blue Jays' 12th straight sellout and 26th of the season at Rogers Centre. ... Rays LHP Jake McGee (torn meniscus in left knee) was activated from the disabled list. He injured the knee Aug. 18. ... The Rays will start RHP Matt Adriese (3-5, 4.37 ERA) on Sunday in the finale of the three-game series. The Blue Jays will start LHP Mark Buehrle (14-7, 3.69). ... The teams will end the season with a three-game series next week at Tropicana Field.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Tampa Bay   Toronto
Chris Archer Player David Price
Loss W/L Win
3.2 IP 5.0
3 Strikeouts 6
10 Hits 6
22.09 ERA 7.20
Hitting
Tampa Bay   Toronto
Asdrubal Cabrera Player Kevin Pillar
3 Hits 3
1 RBI 2
0 HR 0
3 TB 5
1.000 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Tampa Bay 9 1 13 .250 15 8 7 2 0 0
Toronto 12 3 25 .343 13 7 10 6 1 3