Rays pitchers allow 6 HRs in loss to Jays

The three-batter rule ended up hurting Tampa Bay’s bullpen in a big way as the Rays lost to the Blue Jays, 12-4, on Friday night at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y. Tampa Bay’s winning streak was snapped at six. The Rays were ahead, 4-3, when Toronto took the lead in

The three-batter rule ended up hurting Tampa Bay’s bullpen in a big way as the Rays lost to the Blue Jays, 12-4, on Friday night at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y. Tampa Bay’s winning streak was snapped at six.

The Rays were ahead, 4-3, when Toronto took the lead in a five-run sixth. Right-hander Ryan Thompson started the inning by allowing a game-tying home run to Randal Grichuk. Thompson’s struggles continued as Rowdy Tellez singled, but he was able to get Danny Jansen to fly out to left fielder Austin Meadows.

• Box score

In came left-hander Aaron Loup to face the left-handed-hitting Cavan Biggio, who was hit by a pitch. If this were last year’s rules, manager Kevin Cash would have probably taken Loup out of the game. But Loup had to face the minimum three batters.

Bo Bichette followed with a three-run homer to make it a 7-4 game. It was Bichette’s fourth home run in his last four games. Loup was looking to throw the ball inside, but the pitch went outside and Bichette took advantage of the situation and hit a monster shot over the right-center-field wall.

“It’s not a matter of how I feel about [the three-batter rule]. That’s what the rules are and that’s what we are playing with,” Cash said. “Loup is equipped to get righties and lefties out. It was a rough night for him for sure. I was appreciative that he was able to go back out there and get another inning of work.”

Two batters later, Loup couldn’t keep the ball down and allowed a solo homer to Teoscar Hernández to make it a four-run deficit. What made it so bad was that Hernández hit the ball on an 0-2 pitch.

“A couple of bad pitches cost me,” Loup said. “It sucks because we had the lead at the time. It was a pivotal point in the game. I gave up the lead and things went downhill after that.”

Overall, the Blue Jays hit six home runs in the game.

“[Sahlen Field] is very similar to our Major League parks, especially in the north that deals with the cold weather,” Cash said. “When it’s cold in these places, the ball goes nowhere. When the summertime comes, the ball carries. But we saw that in batting practice. We fully recognize it’s going to carry for both teams.”

The Blue Jays blew it open by scoring four runs in the eighth off left-hander José Alvarado. Rays starter Trevor Richards allowed three runs, including two homers, in 4 1/3 innings.

Bill Ladson has been a reporter for MLB.com since 2002. He covered the Nationals/Expos from 2002-2016. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.