TORONTO —The Rays had been on a weeks-long streak of playing, and more often losing, games decided by one or two runs.
Thursday night that streak, four shy of the major league record, came to an end. They lost by three.
The 4-1 defeat to the Blue Jays was similar to many of the nine losses during the 14-game streak. The Rays pitched relatively well and didn’t do much with the bats.
Ryan Yarbrough, called up from Triple-A Durham to work bulk innings to replace scheduled starter Jeffrey Springs, gave them a solid 5 1/3 innings. But he made a pair of costly mistakes, allowing two-run homers to Teoscar Hernandez in the second and Santiago Espinal in the seventh.
That was enough, however, as the Rays (40-35) were held to five hits by starter Yusei Kikuchi and three relievers and the one run, a two-out homer in the fourth by Isaac Paredes.
With Springs staying home to deal with a family medical emergency, the Rays shuffled their pitching plans. Matt Wisler worked the first inning as an opener, then they turned to Yarbrough, who had been sent down in early June and made five starts for Durham with mixed results.
Though Yarbrough scattered eight hits, and had baserunners in five of his six innings, only the homers hurt.
Hernandez hit his after a leadoff infield single in the second by Alejandro Kirk on a ground ball second baseman Taylor Walls got to but couldn’t handle.
Espinal did his damage with one out, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. reached on a blooper that dropped between Walls and right fielder Vidal Brujan.
Paredes’ homer in the fourth extended his hot streak, ran his team-leading total to 11 for the season and ended the Rays’ 30-inning home run drought.
They had other chances, leaving five on and going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position.
The first came in the sixth, when Yandy Diaz and Wander Franco started the inning with singles off Kikuchi. But Harold Ramirez grounded into a double play and Randy Arozarena into the third out, with a good play by Matt Chapman.
They had another in the seventh, when Brujan singled off reliever Trent Thornton with one out, stole second and went to third on an errant throw. But Walls couldn’t put the ball in play, striking out, and Francisco Mejia popped out.
