Hatch walked two but didn’t allow a hit while striking out three in 2 1/3 innings.
Kay worked into the sixth inning, when Tampa Bay’s Ji-Man Choi hit the first right-handed home run of his career and Brandon Lowe followed with a double to end the Toronto reliever’s day.
The lefty-swinging Choi, who experimented with batting right-handed during workouts in spring training and summer camp, switched over to the right side for two at-bats against Kay. After striking out in the third, he drove the left-hander’s first pitch of the sixth over the wall in left center field.
Blake Snell, the 2018 AL Cy Young award winner, started for the Rays. The lefty, looking to rebound from going 6-8 with a 4.29 ERA last season, pitched two scoreless innings but had to work out of jams in each of them.
Toronto left the bases loaded in the first, then stranded two more runners in the second. The Blue Jays finally broke through against Trevor Richards (0-1) in the sixth, beginning the inning with six…
