
TORONTO -- David Price set a franchise record with 14 strikeouts and Desmond Jennings homered twice as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 12-0 on Sunday.
Price (12-11), who improved his career record to 9-1 against Toronto, held the Blue Jays to three hits.
The 14 strikeouts equals the American League best this season also accomplished by New York's CC Sabathia and Detroit's Justin Verlander.
Jennings, who hit two home runs for the first time in his career, had both homers in the first two innings against Brandon Morrow to give him eight for the season.
Sean Rodriguez also hit a two-run homer against Morrow.
The Rays have won the first three games of the four-game series against the Blue Jays (66-67) that concludes Monday.
Morrow (9-9) allowed six hits, three of them home runs, three walks and five runs in 5 1-3 innings with five strikeouts. His earned-run average went up to 4.79 after the outing.
Jennings homered to left on the first pitch of the game for his first-career leadoff homer the third for the Rays this season.
He hit his second homer of the game and his eighth of the season in the second to put the Rays into a 5-0 lead.
It was the first multi-homer game of his career and the first by a Rays' leadoff man since Rocco Baldelli hit two against the Yankees in New York on Sept. 14, 2006.
The Rays (73-59) scored three runs in the second before Jennings' second homer, two on the sixth homer of the season by Rodriguez and one on John Jaso's double that scored B.J. Upton who had walked.
Meanwhile, Price had eight strikeouts in the first three innings and 10 after four. After five innings he already had equalled his previous career high of 12 strikeouts, which he had done twice previously, most recently June 28 this year against Cincinnati.
Price's first inning without a strikeout was the sixth when he allowed his second walk and had two fly outs and a ground out.
The Rays' lead increased to 6-0 in the seventh against Toronto left-hander Rommie Lewis. After Ben Zobrist walked and Casey Kotchman was ruled to have been hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, Matt Joyce singled to right where a charging Jose Bautista had the ball kick away from him. The error allowed Zobrist to score and the other runners to move up a base.
Joyce doubled and Jaso tripled against Wil Ledezma to start the ninth. After Rodriguez walked, Jennings singled in a run, Evan Longoria hit a sacrifice fly for the second out and Zobrist singled in a run. Joyce hit his second double of the inning to make the score 12-0.
Notes: Attendance at Rogers Centre was 21,618. ... Blue Jays' manager John Farrell missed his third game in a row as he rests at home after being diagnosed with pneumonia Thursday. ... Blue Jays first baseman Adam Lind was given the day off Sunday and Edwin Encarnacion played first. ...The call-up of catcher Brian Jeroloman gives the Blue Jays three catchers so Molina was the designated hitter Sunday with J.P. Arencibia behind the plate. ... Wade Davis (8-7, 4.28 ERA) will start for Tampa Bay in the series finale against Ricky Romero (12-9, 2.78 ERA).
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