TORONTO -AP- After the final out, that's when things really heated up between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays.
Both benches and bullpens cleared after the Blue Jays wrapped up a 3-2 win Monday night, and the skirmish got settled without anyone throwing punches.
After Steven Souza Jr. hit a liner to center for the last out, he traded words with Russell Martin, misunderstanding the Toronto catcher's praise for his hard-hit drive as criticism.
The situation escalated when Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki joined the fray with some choice words for Souza.
 
Blue Jays, Rays clear benches, bullpens after Toronto wins
 
"Troy decided to jump in and say some things that weren't really necessary," Souza said.
Martin said Tulowitzki "kind of came in there and just kind of blew up in (Souza's) face."
Cooler heads soon prevailed, and Souza sorted things out with Martin before everyone left the field.
"We're fine," Martin said. "There's no bad blood or anything."
Ezequiel Carrera connected for a tiebreaking, pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning. Jose Bautista added a two-run homer as the Blue Jays improved to 3-7 in September and moved one game ahead of Baltimore in the AL wild-card race.
The Orioles lost 12-2 at division-leading Boston. The Red Sox are two games ahead of Toronto.
Jason Grilli (5-3) pitched one inning and Roberto Osuna got his 32nd save.
Carrera replaced Darwin Barney to face incoming reliever Brad Boxberger(3-1). Carrera homered on the right-hander's first pitch.
"He did it in a big way," manager John Gibbons said.
Boxberger said he was surprised Carrera's ball ended up a home run.
"It was down and away, good pitch," Boxberger said. "When a ball you think is just going to be a lazy fly ball all of a sudden goes out you kind of just have to laugh it off."
Carrera was the batter the last time Toronto got a pinch-hit homer, on July 25, 2015, at Seattle.
Blue Jays left-hander Francisco Liriano opened the game by giving up a leadoff single to Logan Forsythe, then retired the next 14 batters. Souza broke the streak with a two-out walk in the fifth but Liriano fanned Richie Shaffer to end the inning.
"He was cruising," Souza said of Liriano. "He was throwing everything kind of where he wanted to, down in the zone."
Bautista gave Toronto a 2-0 lead with a two-out homer off Jake Odorizziin the sixth. For Bautista, it was his first extra-base hit since homering at Baltimore on Aug. 31.
Evan Longoria homered on Liriano's first pitch in the seventh and Brad Miller followed by homering on a 1-0 slider. It was the third time this season the Rays have hit back-to-back homers and the second time they've done it on their current road trip.
TO ERR IS...
Toronto has made at least one error in a season-worst six consecutive games. It's their longest streak since a seven-game run in 2011.
MILESTONE K
Odorizzi recorded his 500th career strikeout by fanningMelvin Upton Jr. to end the second.
 

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