"Believe it or not, the bunt is part of the Tampa Bay Rays offense.

"It's about opportunity," Rays manager Joe Maddon said, "and the situation has to be set properly."

The situation was set properly Wednesday night during the second inning against the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays' corner infielders were playing back so the Rays bunted.

And bunted.

And bunted again.

Sort of like a mini version of the Green Bay Packers old Power Sweep, the Rays ran the same play three times and it worked, leading to the first of two big innings as the Rays beat the Jays 9-1 in front of 11,803 at Tropicana Field to maintain their hold on third place in the American League East standings.

Ben Zobrist homered again, Casey Kotchman hit his fifth homer of the season, Robinson Chirinos hit the first home run of his career as part of a perfect night at the plate and Matt Joyce celebrated his 27th birthday with three hits, including a double, as the offense gave James Shields more than enough runs to work with.

"Potentially we're good enough to do that every night, I think," Shields said. "We set the tone by playing small ball early. That's the kind of team we've always been, and I think we kind of got away from it a little bit. (Wednesday night) we played small ball early, got some bunts down and executed, and the next thing you know it's contagious. Hitting is contagious, and these guys hit pretty well."

The eight-run margin of victory was the largest at home this season for the Rays, who are offensively challenged at the trop.

They had a season-high four extra-base hits in the third, including a three-run homer from Chirinos, who also reached on a bunt single, drew a pair of walks and finished with four RBIs.

Shields, who allowed 10 runs in four innings at Oakland in his previous start, including nine in the fourth inning, allowed three hits in 71/3 innings. The difference between the two outings was he kept the ball down against the Jays.

And, he was able to pitch with a lead.

"Whenever I have a lead, or any pitcher on our staff has a lead, we tend to feel more comfortable out there," Shields said."