Blue Jays look for elusive victory in Tampa

Matt Moore is coming off yet another defeat, but the Tampa Bay Rays believe their highly-touted 22-year-old is on the verge of a breakthrough.

Fellow rookie and 21-year-old Drew Hutchison is starting to hold his own in the Toronto Blue Jays’ rotation.

With Moore looking to avoid losing a fourth straight start and Hutchison aiming to win a third consecutive outing, the Rays and Blue Jays continue a three-game set Tuesday night at Tropicana Field.

After dropping four straight in this series, Toronto opened a six-game road swing Monday with its fifth win in six games overall, beating the Rays 6-2. Kyle Drabek threw six solid innings and Yunel Escobar went 2-for-4 with his second homer of the season.

The road victory gives Toronto the chance to win their first series in Tampa since April of 2007. They have lost 14 straight series at Tropicana Field since then.

Brett Lawrie went 0-for-4 in his return from a four-game suspension for his tirade during last Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay. Lawrie had hit safely in each of his previous nine games against the Rays.

The Blue Jays (24-19) are a season-high five games over .500 for the third time. They haven’t been better than that since finishing the 2010 season at 85-77. The Rays are now just a game up on the Blue Jays for second in the AL East.

Moore, who pitched phenomenal ball in a late-season call-up and the ALDS vs. the Texas Rangers in 2011, has struggled thus far in his first full season in the majors.

The hard-throwing left-hander dropped his third consecutive start Thursday, a 5-3 loss to Boston. Moore allowed a run in each of the first three innings but settled down thereafter, putting together three scoreless frames and finishing with a season-high eight strikeouts.

Moore will get his first look at the Blue Jays, who are pleased with what they’ve seen lately from Hutchison.

Five days after giving up one run and three hits over six innings of a 2-1 win at Minnesota, the 21-year-old right-hander yielded one run and five hits in six innings against the New York Yankees, getting credit for Thursday’s 4-1 victory.

“If the game is speeding up on him mentally, he certainly doesn’t show it outwardly,” Toronto manager John Farrell said. “One of the reasons why we felt, with limited experience even above A-ball, he could handle this environment (was) because of the poise and composure, and he shows that almost every start. He does a very good job of keeping the game under control.”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Hutchison, who’s had to overcome four walks in each of his last two starts. He has never faced Tampa Bay (25-18).

Tampa Bay is hitting .203 during a 1-4 slide.

With files from The Associated Press