(Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images)

The Toronto Blue Jays like to mention that they also had a slow start to last season and then went on to win both the American League East and the AL pennant.

The similarities are beginning to fade. The Blue Jays are three wins behind last year's pace after 42 games following a 7-6 loss in 10 innings to the visiting Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

Toronto will attempt to avoid being swept by Tampa Bay in another three-game series when the teams conclude their current set on Wednesday night. The Rays won all three games against the Blue Jays from May 4-6.

Toronto rallied from a five-run deficit Tuesday to tie the game with a five-run seventh inning. The Rays picked up their bullpen, which had a rare difficult night, and scored twice in the 10th inning to pull out the victory.

'That's what we do,' said Taylor Walls, who singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning. 'We've got to scrap wins out. When guys fall, help them up. Do what you can to have their back. And if you do that over the course of 162, you're gonna find yourself in a good spot.'

Walls also alertly took third on a pitch in the dirt in the 10th, setting up Jonathan Aranda's sacrifice fly to center field.

The Rays have won 16 of their last 18 games to build a two-game lead atop the AL East, and the Blue Jays have lost seven of their past nine games.

Toronto is scheduled to start Dylan Cease (3-1, 2.58 ERA) on Wednesday in the series finale. The right-hander is 1-3 with a 5.12 ERA in seven career starts against Tampa Bay.

The Rays are slated to start right-hander Griffin Jax (1-2, 5.00), who is 1-2 with a 4.82 ERA in 16 career games (one start) against the Blue Jays.

If the Blue Jays hope to regain some of last year's magic, they will need more production from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly on Tuesday. He is in an 0-for-12 funk and is 5-for-41 (.122) with no homers and three RBIs in May.

'He wants to be the guy to carry us, and the more he does that, the harder it gets,' Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. 'From a swing standpoint, I feel like he's just a tick off with his timing, with his load, his bat tip. And they are pitching him tough. It's like hard sinkers in, breaking balls away. He's got to just have a game or two to kind of get himself going.'

Kazuma Okamoto has been carrying much of the load for Toronto, leading the team with 10 homers and 26 RBIs. His 10-game hitting streak ended Tuesday when he went 0-for-4 with a walk.

Strong defense played a big role in Toronto's success last season, but Schneider feels in that area this season 'the expectation for this group is higher than what they've shown for sure.'

Tampa Bay speedster Chandler Simpson was not in the lineup Tuesday, but manager Kevin Cash said he was available if needed. Simpson was limping on a groundout in the eighth inning on Monday and left the game.

'It's probably about time to give him a day off, but very happy that it was cramps,' Cash said. 'It's good news for us, because we know how valuable and how important he's been to our club.'

--Field Level Media