Blue Jays Hit 3 Homers, Beat Rays 5-1 Behind Bieber

Kazuma Okamoto, Nathan Lukes and Daz Cameron homered, George Springer drove in two runs and Shane Bieber pitched seven strong innings as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 on Thursday.

Lukes snapped a 1-1 tie with a homer to lead off the fifth inning. Cameron followed with a solo shot two batters later. Lukes also made a leaping catch in right field in the seventh inning.

Bieber (5-2) retired the first nine Rays batters before Chandler Simpson beat out an infield chopper and scored the Rays' only run on Junior Caminero's single. Bieber allowed four hits, walked none and struck out seven.

Okamoto, who also doubled, opened the scoring by leading off the second inning with his 26th home run of the season. He leads American League rookies in RBIs with 74 and extra-base hits with 44, and ranks second in home runs.

Three of the Blue Jays' six hits off Ian Seymour (9-4) were solo home runs.

Toronto shortstop Andrés Giménez, who stole two bases in the second inning, left after his fourth-inning groundout with right hamstring tightness. First base umpire John Libka also ejected Blue Jays assistant hitting coach Lou Iannotti in the seventh inning.

Tampa Bay, which entered Thursday with the most home victories in Major League Baseball at 43, has lost three consecutive series at Tropicana Field. The Rays finished their homestand just 2-5.

Toronto heads to New York for a three-game series with the Yankees. Tampa Bay opens a weekend series in Baltimore with right-hander Freddy Peralta (5-10, 5.27 ERA) on the mound. The Orioles will counter with left-hander Trevor Rogers (8-8, 4.15).