TORONTO — Sitting in the home dugout at Rogers Centre, Justin Smoak had a front-row seat as his Toronto Blue Jays teammates staged one of the biggest comebacks in team history. And then suddenly it was the veteran slugger's turn at the plate.

Smoak hit a solo blast to cap off a seven-run ninth inning as Toronto rallied to a 9-8 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night. The comeback tied the largest ninth-inning rally in Blue Jays history, matching their 11-10 win over the Los Angeles Angels on July 30, 2017.

Blue Jays prospect Rowdy Tellez had a two-run homer in the second inning and started Toronto's ninth-inning comeback with an RBI double to cut Tampa's lead to 8-3. Catcher Danny Jansen followed with a three-run blast to bring the Blue Jays to within two runs and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., then had a two-run shot to tie the game with two outs and bring Smoak to the plate.

"You're sitting there, watching it unfold from the bench," said Smoak. "Give it to some of these young guys, they're having really good at bats. It feels like it happened so fast, next thing you know, I was up there."

Sam Gaviglio earned a no decision after pitching five innings for the Blue Jays (70-83), giving up two runs on four hits, striking out four. Jose Fernandez, Jake Petricka, Tim Mayza, Mark Leiter Jr., Joe Biagini and David Paulino all came out of Toronto's bullpen, with Paulino picking up his first win of the season. Leiter allowed four runs and Biagini gave up one.

Trailing by six runs in the ninth inning, manager John Gibbons subbed in many of the Blue Jays' top prospects who had been called up from triple-A Buffalo at the start of September when Major League Baseball teams were allowed to expand their roster. Gibbons joked with reporters that Thursday's massive comeback win was all according to plan.

"It's really nice because I think Buffalo lost their last 11 straight," said Gibbons with a smile. "So they won one tonight."

Tommy Pham had three hits, including a triple, with two runs batted in as the Rays (85-67) had a five-game winning streak snapped. CJ Cron had a three-run single as part of a five-run seventh inning.

Ryan Stanek started for Tampa Bay, but pitched one-plus inning as part of the Rays ongoing starter-by-committee approach this season. He allowed two runs.

Yonny Chirinos allowed one run and struck out five over 4 2/3 innings pitched. Adam Kolarek, Hunter Wood, Jaime Schultz all pitched scoreless innings of relief. Sergio Romo (3-4) took the loss.

The Rays now sit six games back of the Oakland Athletics for the second wild card spot in the American League. Oakland crushed the Angels 21-3 earlier in the day and Tampa manager Kevin Cash expects that the A's big win coupled with his team's collapse in Toronto spelled the end of their post-season hopes.

"In reality we're much farther than probably what people are wanting to recognize," said Cash. "We need a lot of things to go in our favour. Losses like this don't help."

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