TORONTO — Ketel Marte hit his 15th homer of the season and Carson Kelly hit a two-run shot to back a solid start from Robbie Ray, and the Arizona Diamondbacks downed the Toronto Blue Jays 8-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the interleague series.
The Blue Jays, who have dropped four straight games and 14 of 17, were swept for the seventh time in 20 series this season.
The Diamondbacks (34-32) outscored Toronto 22-4 in the three-game set.
Only the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles have worse MLB records than Toronto’s 23-42.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., provided some offence for the Blue Jays with his fifth home run of the season in the first inning. He also doubled in the eighth. But in the third inning, the converted infielder failed to hit the cut-off man on a shot down the line from Diamondbacks right fielder Tim Locastro, which allowed Locastro to easily slide into third base for a bases-loaded triple.
Toronto catcher Danny Jansen doubled in his team’s other run in the second inning.
Ray (5-3) allowed two runs in his 107-pitch 6 2/3 innings. He stuck out 10 to tie Randy Johnson’s franchise record with his third consecutive 10-or-more strikeout game against American League clubs.
Toronto starter Clayton Richard (0-2) did not last long. The left-hander, making his fourth start of the season, yielded seven runs on seven hits in his 70-pitch 2 2/3 innings.
The Blue Jays are on pace for 57 wins this season, which would be their lowest victory total in a non-strike shortened year since a franchise-low 53 in 1979.
The Diamondbacks sent 11 hitters to the plate in an eight-run third inning.
The big blows were a bases-clearing triple from Locastro, followed by a two-run home run from Kelly, his seventh of the season.
The 24-year-old Kelly was born in Chicago and raised in Oregon, but he lived in Markham, Ont., for two years when his father relocated to the Toronto-area for his job with Nike. He played youth baseball for the Markham Mariners and Georgetown Eagles, winning the 2007 Canadian Pee Wee Championship.
Notes: Arizona shortstop Nick Ahmed left the game in the third inning with left-foot soreness. Blue Jays rookie third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was given the day off after his two singles in eight at-bats in the first two games of the series. Toronto has Monday off before hitting the road for three-game series against the Orioles and Houston Astros.
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