TORONTO — Ricky Ray threw for a career-best 506 yards and a TD as the Toronto Argonauts began the Marc Trestman era with a 32-15 home win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday night.

Ray completed 32-of-41 passes to make Trestman's Toronto coaching debut a successful one before a sparse announced BMO Field gathering of 13,583. Trestman joined the Argos, along with GM Jim Popp, this off-season after four seasons in the NFL.

In his first CFL head-coaching stint, Trestman led the Montreal Alouettes to three Grey Cup appearances and two wins from 2008-12.

Ray, a 15-year veteran, finished short of Toronto's single-game record of 524 yards, set in 1960 by Tobin Rote. But the Argos, who outscored Hamilton 17-3 in the second half, won't have time to enjoy the win as they host the B.C. Lions on Friday night.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hamilton has a bye before visiting the Saskatchewan Roughriders on July 8. The Ticats' first home game is July 15 against B.C.

Argos' sophomore DeVier Posey had seven catches for 147 yards, including a crucial 79-yard TD grab to open the second half. But veteran S.J. Green was impressive in his Toronto debut, registering seven receptions for 124 yards in his first game since suffering a serious knee injury early last season with Montreal.

Newcomer Jeff Fuller had 104 yards on three catches for Toronto.

Hamilton starter Zach Collaros was 26-of-39 passing for 246 yards and an interception. The Ticats also lost Terrence Toliver, a 1,000-yard receiver last year, to an apparent knee injury in the first quarter.

Toronto opened the second half emphatically with Ray hitting Posey on the 79-yard TD strike on the first play. It came after Posey dropped Ray's 17-yard pass in Hamilton's end zone, leading to Richard Leonard returning a blocked field goal for a stunning TD with just seven seconds remaining to cut the Argos' half-time lead to 15-12.

Lirim Hajrullahu's 50-yard boot to end the third — and a nice wind at his back — put Toronto ahead 26-15. He added boots of 27 and 10 yards in the fourth to give the Argos a 32-15 advantage.

Cody Fajardo scored Toronto's other touchdown. Hajrullahu booted two converts, five field goals and a single. The other points came on a safety.

Brian Tyms registered a two-point convert for Hamilton while Sergio Castillo added two field goals and a single.

After Leonard's heroics, Collaros hit Tyms for the two-point convert to make it a three-point game. Will Hill started the late fireworks by blocking Hajrullahu's 24-yard field goal try, resulting in a big 15-point swing.

And that put Hamilton back into the contest despite Toronto's domination to that point. The Argos outgained Hamilton in total yards (265-88) and first downs (25-13) while holding the ball for 19 minutes.

Ray was 18-of-25 passing for 253 yards and Green had four catches for 95 yards while Posey registered six receptions for 68 yards. But Fuller couldn't haul in Ray TD strike in the first before Posey's costly drop.

Toronto's special teams, under first-year CFL coach Kevin Eiben, also surrendered a blocked punt.