TORONTO _ Forget the kind words, and the potential for mind games, being volleyed between Rays manager Kevin Cash and Blue Jays counterpart Charlie Montoyo, the former coach on Cash's staff, before their first regular-season meeting.
Friday quickly became about the baseballs soaring through the air.
Especially the ones blasted into the Rogers Centre upper deck by Austin Meadows and Brandon Lowe, who both had two-homer games.
Consider this is Toronto's 31st season of play at the retractable roof stadium, and there had been only 20 home runs hit into what is known as the 500 level.
And only three by left-handed hitters: Carlos Delgado (1998), Shawn Green (1999), Alex Dickerson (2016).
Before Friday's 1-7 win over the Blue Jays, there had never been two hit into the upper deck in the same game, much less the same inning, or off the same pitcher (Trent Thornton, if you're keeping track, because he probably isn't).
There was some other excitement as the Rays tried to extend their hot start to what would be a franchise-best 11-3.
Most notably, how the Blue Jays rallied from an 8-0 deficit to make the game interesting by scoring six runs in the seventh, and getting the tying run to the plate.
With Ryne Stanek starting the game as the opener, Montoyo dropped a couple of hitters down in his lineup in an effort to get whichever pitcher came in to work the bulk of the innings to still have to face them three times.
But with his bullpen rested following Thursday's off-day and with top starter Blake Snell scheduled for Saturday's start, Cash had multiple options and showed them, having both righty Yonny Chirinos and lefty Ryan Yarbrough warming up in the second.
Montoyo noticed and playfully gestured toward their dugout. Stanek finished the second, so it didn't matter at the time.
And Cash actually used both, Yarbrough for two innings and Chirinos for three, which was one too many as he gave up six runs in a miserable seventh.
Before Chirinos came in, the Rays were working on a perfect game, as Stanek and Yarbrough teamed to retire the first 12 Jays.
Chirinos, so impressive in his two starts, came in to work the fifth and quickly ended that drama by walking leadoff man Randal Grichuk, then allowing a two-out single to Richard Urena.
Also of note, two Rays were hit by pitches, Willy Adames and Avisail Garcia.
Tampa Bay got off to a fast start as Meadows, who is having quite an impressive week, led off with a homer. They added to that lead impressively in the third. Meadows homered again, making his first multihomer game in the majors even more memorable as the ball sailed into the upper deck, seemingly conservatively estimated by StatCast at 436 feet, with an exit velocity of 110 mph and a 31 degree launch angle.
Yandy Diaz walked with two outs, then Lowe, whose listed 5 feet 10 and 185 pounds seems excessive, hit the ball to nearly the same spot in the 500 level, also estimated at 436 feet with a 31 degree angle, though at 114 mph.
Before the game, Cash talked about how smart Montoyo, who spent four years on his coaching staff and 18 before that managing in the Tampa Bay minor-league system, is and how deserving he was of the opportunity to manage the Blue Jays. Montoyo raved about how close friends Cash and the rest of the Rays are to him, and how much they meant to him.
