The Tampa Bay Rays continued their dominance over the Toronto Blue Jays in 2026 on Tuesday.

Following tonight’s 12-2 victory, the Rays have now defeated the Blue Jays in seven of eight games on the year. With the loss, the Blue Jays now sit at 46-55 and appear to be staring down having to sell at this year’s edition of Major League Baseball’s trade deadline.

The pesky Rays offence got to Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman early, tagging him for three runs in the top of the first inning. After recording the first two outs of the frame, Junior Caminero worked a walk, which was followed by a double by Cedric Mullins, setting the Rays up with two runners in scoring position.

Jonny DeLuca stepped up next and dumped a single in front of Blue Jays right fielder Nathan Lukes to bring home two and give the Rays an early lead. After picking up his 10th steal of the season, DeLuca was brought home on a Chandler Simpson single to extend the lead to 3-0 before the Blue Jays returned to the dugout.

After holding the Rays off the board over the next two innings, the Blue Jays surrendered two more runs in the top of the fourth as the Rays rallied. Yandy Díaz opened the inning with a single and then Junior Caminero worked a one-out walk to end Gausman’s night, as manager John Schneider opted to turn to left-hander Mason Fluharty to face Cedric Mullins.

After Mullins reached on a fielder’s choice forceout, he stole second, which forced an errant throw from Brandon Valenzuela that allowed Díaz to come home to score. DeLuca then ripped a single to left to bring home Mullins and extend the Rays’ lead to 5-0.

Gausman finished his evening with a pitching line of 3.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB and 1 K, forced to throw 90 pitches as the Rays battled him. For the season, Gausman is now 4-9 with a 4.51 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP over his 21 starts. With the Blue Jays’ playoff hopes dwindling by the game, coupled with Gausman’s pending free-agent status, the 35-year-old’s time in a Toronto uniform could be nearing its end.

The Rays kept coming in the top of the fifth after Fluharty was replaced by Lazaro Estrada. After singles by Chandler Simpson and Ben Williamson, Rays catcher Nick Fortes homered for the second night in a row to bring his season total to four and push the lead to 8-0.

The Blue Jays’ offence, which had been held to two runs over its previous three games, finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ernie Clement singled to open the frame and was instantly pushed to third base on a ringing George Springer double. With runners on second and third with no one out, Daulton Varsho beat out an infield single to make it an 8-1 game. Unfortunately, the next batter, Kazuma Okamoto, grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, making it an 8-2 game but putting an end to the threat.

For good measure, the Rays added four more runs in the ninth off left-hander Patrick Corbin. After a Fortes RBI single, Díaz smashed a three-run home run to centre field for his 14th home run of the year. The 10-run lead allowed Schneider to summon Myles Straw to record the final two outs of the game.

After two rough outings to begin July, American League All-Star Drew Rasmussen bounced back, turning in a pitching line of 5.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB and 5 K to improve his season record to 8-5 with a 3.28 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP.

The Blue Jays will look to break their three-game losing streak on Wednesday when they face Rays right-hander Griffin Jax. While no starter has been officially named for the Blue Jays yet, it is expected that Spencer Miles will get the bulk of the action after both Estrada and Corbin were used on Tuesday in the loss.

First pitch is set for 7:07 p.m. EST at Rogers Centre.