ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Rays climbed to the top of the American League East standings by showing rare resilience through the late innings.
They've made a living playing from behind, making you wonder and making you wait. And, more often than not this season, leaving you trying to wrap your head around another comeback win.
On Friday night, fresh off their most successful road trip in franchise history, they had another chance at some late-inning heroics but had their five-game winning streak snapped with a 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Blue Jays.
This year's new extra-inning rule places a runner at second base to start every half inning. The Blue Jays broke a 4-4 tie in the 10th as Cavan Biggio led off with an opposite-field double. Biggio slapped an inside sinker from Rays lefty Aaron Loup off his fists and into left field.
From there, the Jays played small ball, bunting Biggio to third and plating him on a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Rays had their own rally in the bottom half of the inning. Yandy Diaz's leadoff single scored Brandon Lowe, the runner positioned at second. Manuel Margot's two-out single sent Diaz, the tying run, to third. But Hunter Renfroe ended the game with a comebacker to the mound.
The Rays had their chances before extra innings, but they stranded the bases loaded in the sixth after tying the score. They also had the leadoff man on board in the eighth after Joey Wendle's single, but he was thrown out at second when Margot failed to get a bunt down on a bunt-and-run play.
Toronto starter Matt Shoemaker held Tampa Bay to two runs over five innings, his only blemishes being solo homers by Lowe and Diaz. Shoemaker retired 13 of the final 14 hitters he faced.
Trailing 4-2, Lowe and Diaz drew back-to-back leadoff walks in the sixth against lefty reliever Ryan Borucki. Rays manager Kevin Cash summoned the right-handed hitting Jose Martinez from the bench.
Martinez hit the first pitch he saw to leftfield and off the wall against an outfield aligned to avoid doubles in the gaps. The hit scored Lowe and Diaz to tie the score.
The Rays loaded the bases with two outs in that inning against Rafael Dolis, but Michael Perez struck out to end the threat.
Lowe's first-inning homer was his ninth of the season, tying him for second in the AL. Diaz's third-inning blast, which went an estimated 426 feet to left-center, was his second in as many days after going without a homer run in his first 24 games.
The Jays scored four runs off Rays starter Ryan Yarbrough in the second, including back-to-back solo home runs by Teoscar Hernandez and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Guerrero's shot was a line drive that shot into the left-field seats in a hurry, coming off the bat at a 115.9 mph exit velocity, the fifth hardest-hit ball this season, according to Statcast.
Lourdes Gurriel's run-scoring double plated another run, and Randal Grichuk's high-chopper infield hit to second scored another off Yarbrough, who needed 29 pitches to get out of the second inning. Gurriel also tried to score on that play and was initially ruled safe following an awkward dive. But the call was overturned after review.
Yarbrough, whose 6 1/3 innings matched his longest outing of the season, left two on with one out in the seventh, but Diego Castillo cleaned up the mess by inducing an inning-ending double play ball by Gurriel.
Castillo struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth, both hitters flailing at nasty sliders that tailed away from them. Loup retired the Jays in order in the ninth.
