TORONTO -- Shortstop Brad Miller had three hits, including a triple, and drove in three runs on Tuesday night as the Tampa Bay Rays picked apart the Toronto Blue Jays 12-2.
Tyler Motter hit his first career home run in his second game in Major League Baseball. Kevin Kiermaier also had three hits and an RBI for the Rays (18-19). Chris Archer (3-4) struck out seven and allowed two runs on four hits over six innings as Tampa Bay won back-to-back games at Rogers Centre.
Enny Romero, Ryan Webb and Dana Eveland pitched three scoreless innings in relief for the Rays.
Jose Bautista's two-run home run was the height of Toronto's (19-22) offence as the Blue Jays lost for the fourth time in a row. Toronto was outhit 16-5.
Marcus Stroman (4-1) pitched 5 2/3 innings for Toronto, taking his first loss of the season. He gave up seven earned runs over 13 hits, striking out just two. Switch pitcher Pat Venditte pitched 2 1/3 innings, giving up three unearned runs. Drew Storen gave up two runs in the ninth.
Steve Pearce's RBI double gave the Rays an early lead as he drove Evan Longoria across home in the first.
Bautista replied for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the inning, blasting a two-run shot to centre field and cashing in Michael Saunders for a 2-1 lead. It was a short-lived advantage, however.
Logan Morrison ran home on a Curt Casali groundout to tie it 2-2 in the top of the second. Kiermaier was then brought home from third by Brandon Guyer's single through the gap. Miller closed out the three-run inning with a triple that scored Guyer to make it 4-2.
Morrison added to that lead in the third inning, hitting into a fielder's choice to score Steven Souza Jr.
The fifth inning saw Morrison hurting the Blue Jays again. He singled to right field to bring Pearce home. Kiermaier made it 7-2 with an RBI single to right, cashing in Corey Dickerson.
A series of defensive miscues by Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson in the top of the seventh inning led to another Rays run. He expected a soft single by Kiermaier to roll foul, but instead it stayed fair. Donaldson was then charged with a fielding error, allowing Casali to reach first and advance Kiermaier to second. In the next at-bat Donaldson got another error, allowing Kiermaier to score, Casali to get to second and Guyer to reach first.
Miller then hit a double to score Casali and Guyer and give Tampa a commanding 10-2 lead. All three runs scored in the seventh were unearned.
Motter, appearing in his second game for the Rays since getting called up from the minors, hit a two-run pinch-hit homer in the ninth inning, bringing Tampa's lead up to 12-2.
Toronto was without manager John Gibbons as he served the first game of his three-game suspension for his role in the Blue Jays brawl with the Texas Rangers on Sunday. Bench coach DeMarlo Hale served as manager in his absence.
First base coach Tim Leiper was suspended a game for the same incident, with assistant hitting coach Eric Owens taking over for him.
Bautista was suspended a game, while reliever Jesse Chavez was banned for three games for their roles in the melee. Both players appealed Major League Baseball's decision, allowing them to play on Tuesday night. A total of 14 players and staff from the Blue Jays and Rangers organizations were punished for the brawl.
