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BOS@TB: Moore strikes out eight over six frames

The Blue Jays snapped a four-game losing streak to the Rays and will look to win their first series against Tampa Bay since August 2010 with a win Tuesday.

Tampa Bay is 9-0-1 against Toronto in the last 10 series between the two clubs and finally gets the Blue Jays at home after playing five games at Rogers Centre to start the year. The Rays have the best home record in the American League at 15-7, despite dropping six of their last eight games at Tropicana Field.

Tuesday will feature a matchup of rookies, as the Rays will send Matt Moore to the hill while Toronto counters with right-hander Drew Hutchison.

Hutchison has won two consecutive starts, allowing just one run in each and is 3-1 in six outings since making his Major League debut against the Royals on April 21.

Although the rookie brings a 4.81 ERA into his first career start against the Rays, Blue Jays manager John Farrell is impressed with the way the 21-year-old, who started the season at Double-A New Hampshire, has adapted to the big leagues.

"Hutch, his ability to remain poised and composed at this level, even in some hot spots within a given game, is consistent with everyone's impression of him coming into Spring Training," Farrell said. "He's handled this environment very well."

Moore, who entered the season as the No.1 prospect in baseball according to MLB.com, has struggled out of the gate, sporting a 1-4 record and 5.20 ERA.

The lefty is coming off his third quality start of the year -- where he had a season-high eight strikeouts -- and doesn't plan to change a thing, despite the rough start he's experiencing.

"The same game plan I've always had to go out there with, is just attack and get ahead," said Moore, who has failed to go seven innings only once this year. "Not much different than that."

Blue Jays: Arencibia named AL Player of the Week
• Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia was named the American League Player of the Week after hitting .360 with four home runs, including a multi-homer effort, 10 RBIs and a .920 slugging percentage.

He homered in three straight games for the first time in his career and led the AL in slugging for the week, while tying in home runs, RBIs and runs scored.

It marked the first time a Toronto catcher has received the honor.

The backstop continued his hot stretch by going 2-for-4 with a run scored in Monday's series opener.

• Colby Rasmus, who busted out of an 0-for-20 skid with a base hit to center in the eighth inning of Sunday's loss to the Mets, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored in Monday's win.

Blue Jays manager John Farrell sat Rasmus in place of Rajai Davis in the first two games of Toronto's series with the Mets but insisted that Rasmus, who has struggled this season, is still viewed as an important asset.

"I just felt like a couple of days down would do him some good, just to get some extra work in the cage, work through some things," Farrell said. "Just getting a little bit more consistent timing to his swing. Colby is an important part of this club. Some players need a little bit of a break at times."

The Blue Jays starting center fielder has a hitting line of .214/.288/.357 (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage) with three home runs and 15 RBIs.

Rays: Hellickson loses first game of season
• Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson suffered his first loss of the season Monday after going undefeated in his last 13 starts.

Hellickson, who fell to 4-1 on the year, tied the second-longest unbeaten streak in club history.

The 25-year-old has allowed more than three earned runs in just one start this season, sporting a 2.73 ERA, after winning the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 2011.

• The Rays have 10 players on the disabled list, four of them -- Brandon Allen, Brandon Guyer, Desmond Jennings and Jeff Niemann -- all landed on the DL in a span of seven days from May 10-16.

The 10 players ties a club record, which occurred in both 1998 and 1999.

Tampa Bay's All-Star third baseman, Evan Longoria, who is out with a partially torn hamstring, highlights the wounded list, but his club has managed without him. The Rays are 10-10 since Longoria left an April 30 contest against the Mariners and are two games behind the Orioles in the AL East.

Worth noting
• The Blue Jays and Rays entered Monday's contests as the top-ranked teams in the AL in ERA among their starting pitchers.

Toronto had a mark of 3.47 while Tampa Bay sat at 3.54.

"We know we're going to get well-pitched games against us, that's their history, that's their strength, the starting rotation," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said about the Rays. "We're going to have to be equal to the challenge with our starting rotation as well. I'm not saying we're comparing head up, but to keep the game under control from our starters' standpoint is what's going to put us into position to finish out some games here."

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