Asdrubal Cabrera ailing, the Mets did not have a healthy infie

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- After struggling against Marco Estrada in the first five innings, the Tampa Bay Rays started to break through in the sixth and Matt Duffy came up with the big hit.Duffys three-run double highlighted a five-run inning and the last-place Rays beat the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays for the second straight game, 7-5 on Saturday night.The big outburst came against Estrada (8-7) after he allowed just two singles in the first five innings. Duffys double, the fifth hit of the sixth, missed being a grand slam by less than two feet.You need to find ways to stay in a game by grinding out at bats and stringing together good at bats, Duffy said. When you do that, you find yourself in a situation like that where youve got bases loaded, nobody out and nobodys hit a ball hard yet.We found ourselves with opportunities and once you do that, you look to do damage.Rookie Blake Snell (5-7) got the win after giving up one run and two h`its while striking out seven in six innings.Torontos lead in the division was trimmed to one-half game over Boston, which played at Oakland later Saturday.When he began the sixth inning, Estrada had given up only two runs in 22 1/3 career innings at Tropicana Field. Bobby Wilson, Logan Forsythe, Kevin Kiermaier and Evan Longoria opened the inning with consecutive singles. After a walk to Brad Miller brought in a second run, Duffy cleared the bases with a double to make it 5-1 and get Estrada out of the game.That last inning, a bloop hit, I couldnt make the play on a bunt, next thing you know its 5-1, Estrada said. Im not really sure what happened. Just kind of got out of hand.That inning got away in a hurry, said Toronto manager John Gibbons. Marco was rolling right along and then bam! They piled on right there.Kiermaier made it 7-1 with a two-run home run off reliever Joe Blagini in the seventh.Toronto rallied for four runs in the ninth off Enny Romero before Alex Colome got the final out for his 30th save.Forsythe had three of the Rays 13 hits and scored twice.Estrada gave up five runs and seven hits in five-plus innings, striking out six.BAD SPOT FOR BLUE JAYSThe Blue Jays will have to win their remaining four games against the Rays to win their season series for only the second time in the last 11 years. Toronto is 6-9 against Tampa Bay and 25-16 against the rest of the AL East. The Blue Jays are 31-61 at Tropicana Field since 2006.SOUZA BENCHEDOF Steven Souza Jr., who has struck out 144 times in 105 games, was out of the Rays lineup for the fourth time in five games. We have an opportunity here this last month to see some guys play, manager Kevin Cash said. To be honest with you, the guys that are in there (Nick Franklin, Corey Dickerson) are really producing.TRAINERS ROOMBlue Jays: RHP Gavin Floyd (strained right shoulder) hopes to throw off a mound soon. He started a throwing program three weeks ago.Rays: RHP Chase Whitley (Tommy John surgery) will likely make his final minor league start Sunday for Double-A Montgomery. He is 2-0 with a 1.09 ERA over eight previous outings.UP NEXTBlue Jays: J.A. Happ (17-4) will try to become only the second left-hander to win 18 games for the Blue Jays. David Wells won 20 in 2000.Rays: RHP Chris Archer (8-17), who leads the majors in losses and leads the AL with 202 strikeouts, has won three of his last five starts. Denis Malgin Panthers Jersey . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. 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NEW YORK -- When the New York Mets need a big hit, Yoenis Cespedes is their man.Thats why his health is so critical to the defending NL champs.Cespedes homered with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give New York a 2-1 win over the slumping Miami Marlins in the first game of a pivotal series between National League playoff contenders Monday night.It was a rousing triumph for the Mets, who appeared overmatched on the mound in the opener of a four-game set. New York was shut out for six innings by Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, but Rafael Montero also put up zeros in his first major league start since April 2015.It was one of those games that you dont expect to go win, Mets manager Terry Collins said.Jose Reyes dashed home to score the tying run in the eighth on a dangerous collision at the plate, and the Mets pulled even with Miami for second place in the NL East. With its seventh victory in nine games, New York remained 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the leagues second wild card.Recalled from Double-A Binghamton before the game, Montero went five innings and worked around a career-high six walks -- most by a Mets starter since May 2014. The right-hander yielded only two hits while subbing for Jacob deGrom, skipped in the rotation to rest and regroup following two poor outings in a row.Rookie left-hander Josh Smoker (1-0) struck out two in a perfect inning against the meat of Miamis struggling lineup for his first major league win. Smoker, who pitched for the third straight day and fourth in the past five, was all fired up coming off the mound.I think everybody had something to do with that win tonight, he said. I think theres going to be a lot more to come and Im excited to see where this team ends up.Cespedes, who sat out Sundays loss to Philadelphia after his nagging right quadriceps flared up, launched a no-doubt drive to left-center on a 1-1 pitch from Nick Wittgren (4-3).He crushed it. It was one of those, the minute he got it off, you knew it was gone, Smoker said. I was ecstatic. It was unbelievable.Cespedes tossed his bat high in the air and then chucked away his helmet as he neared home plate. He paused for effect along the third base line, then stepped right into a swarm of jubilant teammates.It wasnt planned. Reyes was telling me to take it easy because I was coming off of an injury. Just played itself out, Cespedes said through a translator.The slugger had three hits and is batting .388 with five homers and nine RBI in nine games since coming off the disabled list.They say one bad pitch can change anything, and it happened, Wittgren said. I completely messed up on that pitch and put it right down the middle for him.ddddddddddddIt was the latest offensive flop for the Marlins, who have totaled two runs while losing three straight games. Theyve dropped five of seven overall and mustered only 20 runs in their last nine.We know how close we are, and we know what we can accomplish, and were giving everything on the field, Fernandez said. Its just unfortunate that its not happening for us right now.Miami broke a scoreless tie in the eighth when Ichiro Suzuki and Xavier Scruggs hit consecutive two-out doubles off Addison Reed.Reyes opened the bottom half with a double that scooted by a sliding Suzuki in right field as he tried to cut the ball off. Reyes tagged up and went to third on Alejandro De Azas long fly to left field, then raced to the plate after A.J. Ramos wild pitch.With the count 0-2 on Cespedes, Ramos threw a high fastball that glanced off the mitt of catcher J.T. Realmuto and went to the screen behind home. Reyes scored with a headfirst dive as Ramos crashed into him hard in the dirt while going down to his knees and reaching for Realmutos throw.Reyes rolled around in discomfort for several seconds, dyed-orange hair visible to all after his helmet popped off. But after Collins and a trainer came out to check on him, Reyes walked back to the dugout with the crowd of 32,188 chanting his name. He remained in the game.New York could ill afford to lose him -- with second baseman Neil Walker and shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera ailing, the Mets did not have a healthy infielder on the bench.KIDS IN THE HALLThe 42-year-old Suzuki had two hits, increasing his career total to 3,011 and passing Hall of Famer Wade Boggs for 27th place in major league history.TRAINERS ROOMMarlins: RHP Andrew Cashner (finger blister) is scheduled to start Friday at Cleveland after he was scratched Sunday. If he cant go, Cashner would likely be placed on the DL and replaced again by LHP Justin Nicolino, manager Don Mattingly said.Mets: Walker missed his second consecutive game with a stiff back. Cabrera (left knee) struck out as a pinch-hitter to end the seventh. Before the game, Collins said Walkers status for Tuesday was uncertain.UP NEXTMarlins RHP Tom Koehler (9-9, 3.85 ERA) pitches Tuesday night against rookie RHP Seth Lugo (1-2, 2.51), set to make his third career start. Koehler grew up in nearby New Rochelle and is 2-6 with a 4.13 ERA in 19 games, 16 starts, against the Mets. Lugo tossed five shutout innings last Thursday in St. Louis to earn his first major league win. ' ' '