TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays wanted to kick off a critical nine-game homestand with a bang to give their fading playoff hopes a boost. John Simon Jersey . The Tampa Bay Rays ended up showing them how its done. Drew Smyly threw a two-hit shutout and Evan Longoria homered and drove in three runs as the Rays dumped the Blue Jays 8-0 on Friday night at Rogers Centre. Wil Myers also went deep as the Rays pounded out 14 hits in the opener of a three-game series. It was the seventh loss in nine games for the Blue Jays (65-63), who entered play four games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League. "When youre high, everything is going to go your way. When youre struggling, everything is going to go against you," said Toronto catcher Dioner Navarro. "A couple of plays here and there probably would have changed the outcome of the game. "But they outplayed us today, they outpitched us, they outhustled us." Longoria took Marcus Stromans first pitch in the second inning over the wall to give Tampa Bay an early 1-0 lead. It was his 16th homer of the season. Tampa Bay took advantage of some suspect defence in the fifth inning. Matt Joyce led off with a double on a ball that bounced off right-fielder Jose Bautistas glove as he tried to make a running catch at the warning track. Longoria walked and James Loney followed with a grounder to short that should have been a double-play ball. But second baseman Steve Tollesons throw to first bounced in the dirt, allowing Joyce to score. The Rays drove Stroman (7-5) from the game in the sixth and burned reliever Aaron Loup in a four-run frame that put the game out of reach. "I figured wed come out there tonight with a little more energy," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "We didnt have it and we made some mistakes, we couldnt turn that big double play. We laid back on a couple balls, things like that. "But Smyly was pretty good out there, Ill give him that." It was the first shutout and first complete game of the southpaws career. Smyly threw 75 of his 105 pitches for strikes, didnt walk a batter and had four strikeouts. "It was good, I have been waiting for this game," he said. "I didnt know if I was ever going to get it because I usually have high pitch counts." Stroman, meanwhile, allowed 10 hits, five earned runs, three walks and had six strikeouts. "I was just up a little bit," Stroman said. "My sinker was pretty good, change-up wasnt bad. It was just a couple pitches that I left up, some curve balls that were up in the zone and they capitalized on it." Smyly (8-10) allowed a single to Jose Reyes in the first inning and a single to Tolleson in the third before retiring the next 19 batters in order. "That was, for my money, the best pitching performance Ive seen from a Ray in this ballpark," said Tampa manager Joe Maddon. "Truly a really artistic performance tonight." Myers tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning with a solo shot off Todd Redmond. Tampa Bay left 12 men on base while Toronto left just one. Notes: Myers has six homers on the season. ... Torontos Kyle Drabek worked the seventh. He has pitched three scoreless innings of relief since his recent callup from triple-A Buffalo. ... Announced attendance was 28,506 and the game took two hours 45 minutes to play. ... The Rays are the only team in the major leagues with a winning record on the road (34-29) and a losing record overall (63-65). ... The Blue Jays fell to 5-13 in August. ... Tolleson ended an 0-for-14 drought with his single. ... Left-hander Mark Buehrle (11-8) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday afternoon. The Rays will counter with right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (1-2). Erik Swoope Jersey . -- Olympic medallist Jennifer Abel of Laval, Que. Jack Mewhort Jersey . The Calgary Stampeders running back received the West Division nomination for the CFLs top individual award Thursday in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada and leagues eight head coaches. http://www.coltsofficialstore.us/customized/ . His fellow Finn, 21 years his junior, had just arrived in Anaheim and was hoping to stick with the Ducks. ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Blues have activated forward Alexander Steen from injured reserve and say the teams leading goal scorer will be available for Saturdays home game against league-leading Anaheim. Steen has missed 11 games with a concussion, which slowed down a career season for the forward. He has already tied a career high with 24 goals, and his 39 points in 35 games are second on the Blues behind T. T.J. Green Jersey. J. Oshie (40). In nine NHL seasons Steen has totalled 147 goals, 194 assists and 248 penalty minutes in 572 career games with St. Louis and Toronto. The Winnipeg-born Swedish international was recently named to Swedens 2014 Olympic team. Wholesale Nike NFL JerseysDiscount NFL JerseysJerseys NFL ChinaDiscount NFL JerseysWholesale Jerseys Free ShippingCheap NFL Jerseys AuthenticStitched Jerseys ' ' '