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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Toronto Blue Jays’ Russell Martin watches his two-run home run off Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Kevin Jepsen during the eighth inning of a baseball game.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. >> Russell Martin hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning to help the Toronto Blue Jays overcome a poor start by 17-game winner J.A. Happ and avoid a three-game sweep by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 on Sunday.
Toronto began the day in a tie for the AL East lead with Boston, which was at Oakland.
Martin hit his 17th homer on a 3-0 pitch from Kevin Jepsen (2-6). He has gone deep nine times and driven in 24 runs over his last 18 games.
Happ was up to 85 pitches when he was pulled by manager John Gibbons after Corey Dickerson’s RBI single put the Rays up 3-1 with two outs in the third.
Joaquin Benoit (3-1) gave up a single and struck out three in a scoreless seventh. His second strikeout , coming against Evan Longoria, was the 1,000th of his career.
Roberto Osuna got three outs for his 30th save.
Happ has gone fewer than five innings in just two of 27 starts this season, with both coming against Tampa Bay. He allowed eight runs over two innings in a 13-2 loss to the Rays on May 18.
The Blue Jays tied it at 3 in the seventh on Devon Travis’ two-run single off Brad Boxberger, costing 17-game loser Chris Archer a shot at his ninth win.
Archer allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He also struck out nine, running his AL-best total to 211.
BENCH NEWS
Blue Jays: OF Melvin Upton Jr., hitting just .185 (20 for 108) against right-handers since the All-Star break, didn’t start with Archer pitching.
Rays: Despite the ability to expand rosters in September, Tampa Bay still had just three position players on the bench on Sunday: C Luke Maile, 1B Logan Morrison and utilityman Nick Franklin.
TOSSED
Gibbons was ejected by plate umpire Pat Hoberg after Martin struck out in the fourth. Gibbons was in the dugout when he was tossed.
UP NEXT
Blue Jays: Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (9-13) and Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (11-4) are Monday’s starters in the first of a three-game set in New York. Toronto is 9-3 against New York this season, including 4-2 at Yankee Stadium.
Rays: RHP Matt Andriese (6-6) will face RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (5-11) and the contending Orioles on Monday in the opener of a three-game home series. Baltimore has won nine of 12 in the season series, but are 3-3 in games at Tropicana Field.
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