TORONTO - A day that started badly for the Blue Jays went downhill in an 8-5 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

Toronto, shocked by news earlier Friday of an 80-game drug suspension to first baseman Chris Colabello, fought its way back from a 6-1 deficit to trail 6-5 after eight innings. But two runs in the ninth padded the Oakland lead.

"We made a run at them," said Jays manager John Gibbons. "We thought maybe tonight's the night — you know, a little magic at the end., But it didn't happen."

Chris Coghlan sparked the Oakland offence with a three-run homer while Sonny Gray struck out seven as the Athletics won their sixth straight. Oakland (10-7), the only team in the majors yet to lose away from home this season, also extended its perfect road record to 7-0.

Toronto (8-10) lost its third in a row with two hit batters, an error, wild pitch and passed ball adding to an ugly bottom line before 34,251 at the Rogers Centre. Aaron Sanchez, who had been impressive in his three previous starts, struggled.

"I was up in the zone and when you're up in the zone like that, you're going to get hit around," said the young right-hander.

"There's no excuse for an outing like that ... They're playing well so that has a little bit to do with it too but I wasn't good," he added.

Toronto made it interesting with a run in the sixth and seventh and two in the eighth. But a Khris Davis single off Roberto Osuna ended the suspense when the ball eluded left-fielder Ezequiel Carrera, who was given an error on the play, and two runs scored.

Carrera was one of several changes to a Jays lineup without Colabello, Michael Saunders (hamstring) and Troy Tulowitzki (hip). Saunders and Tulowitzki were just given the night off. Colabello isn't able to return until mid-July.

"Obviously you feel for your teammate," said catcher Russell Martin. "Everybody loves Colabello ... But I don't think people were thinking too much about it during the game. When you're trying to hit a fastball at 93 miles an hour, you can't really be thinking about too much. But our thoughts are with him."

Martin left early because of a sore neck. He said he felt it before the game and it got progressively worse as the evening wore on.

"I didn't really say anything (before the game). It wasn't anything that was alarming. But as I kept playing, it just kept getting tighter and tighter," said Martin, who hopes to play Saturday.

Justin Smoak, who had been platooning with Colabello, started at first base and went 1 for 3 with two strikeouts.

Gray (3-1) faced just two batters over the minimum in the first five innings before fading slightly. He saw seven Jays come to the plate in a 27-pitch sixth but gave up just one run. In seven innings, the right-hander allowed three runs on six hits with three walks on 100 pitches (59 strikes).

Oakland outhit Toronto 14-8.

"We're getting contributions throughout," said Oakland manager Bob Melvin. "That's what we envisioned to be the strength of our offence — the length of it."

Oakland got to Sanchez early with one run in the first and three in the second thanks to Coghlan's second homer in as many nights. Gray, meanwhile, mowed down the Jays with five strikeouts in the first two innings and retired the first eight batters he faced before Darwin Barney hit a solo homer to left in the third.

Oakland added two more runs in the fifth on two singles, a wild pitch and a Coco Crisp double before Sanchez finally got an out, giving way to left-hander Chad Girodo for his major-league debut.

Sanchez (1-1) gave up six runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings with three strikeouts and one walk. He threw 85 pitches, including 53 strikes, in facing 25 hitters in his worst outing in 15 career starts (he gave up five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings against Baltimore last May).

"It was a tough night for him," said Gibbons. "They came out swinging, they're a good fastball-hitting team. I thought he was up a bit but they're hot right now. He's going to have days like that. They all do."

Girodo threw two scoreless innings before giving way to Jesse Chavez and Osuna.

Down 6-1, Toronto finally got to Gray in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs on walks to Barney and Josh Donaldson and a Carrera double. The Jays managed just one run — on a Jose Bautista sacrifice fly — as Edwin Encarnacion flied out and Josh Thole, with the bases loaded again, grounded out.

Toronto cut the lead to 6-3 in the seventh on Barney's RBI single and scored two more on Kevin Pillar's bases-loaded single off reliever Sean Doolittle with two outs in the eighth.

Ryan Madson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save of the season.

Oakland won its two video replays while Toronto lost its one attempt.

The Athletics have held their opponents to 2.8 runs an outing during the six-game win streak.

Toronto, which led the league last season with 891 runs (5.5 per game), has scored 70 in 18 games (3.9 per game) this year. The Jays have also struck out 171 times.

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