ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.—Don’t be surprised if John Gibbons is sporting shiny new kicks on Tuesday.

The Blue Jays manager recently received a fresh pair of turf shoes but has avoided wearing them for fear of upsetting the cosmos and jinxing his club’s winning streak.

“You don’t want to do anything that might curse it,” he joked before Monday’s game.

Gibbons need not worry any more as the Jays’ 11-game winning streak was snapped Monday night with a lacklustre 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

“You knew it was going to happen sooner or later,” Gibbons said afterwards.

The Jays need not fret too long over a single loss, not when they have won 15 of their last 19 games to climb back into contention in the ultra-tight AL East.

“We gave ourselves a chance, that’s the biggest thing,” said catcher J.P. Arencibia.

But their franchise-record-tying streak didn’t make the club believe in themselves, he said. They believed all along. “To do something like that in baseball you have to believe.”

Later this week they will receive another boost with the return of injured shortstop Jose Reyes. The club announced after Monday’s game that the speedy leadoff hitter will be activated from the disabled list on Wednesday. A counter roster move will be announced, but will likely either be Reyes’ replacement, fan favourite Munenori Kawasaki, or one of the team’s extra relievers.

Back when the Jays’ winning streak began on June 11 in Chicago, Jose Bautista was down to his last strike with two outs in the ninth inning when he clubbed a game-tying homer, paving the way for an extra-innings victory that launched the Jays on their nearly-two-week bender.

The streak ended Monday in much the way it started. Only this time the Jays were on the wrong side of the long ball. Three of them, to be exact.

The Rays took Jays starter Esmil Rogers deep in three straight second-inning at-bats to take an early 3-0 lead. James Loney, Wil Myers and Sam Fuld combined for back-to-back-to-back jacks for just the second time in Rays history.

Heading into the game, Rogers — who pitched remarkably well in his four previous starts after moving from the bullpen into the rotation — had given up just three homers all season.

Much of Rogers’ success in making the transition to a starter can be attributed to his use of off-speed pitches — his changeup and his curve, along with increased use of a two-seam sinker — to complement the fastball-slider combo he used as a reliever.

After his last start, Rogers said he felt confident in all his pitches, but that was not the case Monday night. He said he was “scared” to throw his breaking pitches.

“I’m not sure why,” he said.

For Myers — the Rays’ highly touted prospect acquired from the Kansas City Royals as part of the off-season trade for James Shields — the homer came in his first at-bat at Tropicana Field, earning him a curtain call from the small crowd of just 11,407.

“He’s got it all,” said Gibbons, who was bench coach for the Royals in 2011 and saw Myers develop in the minors. “He’s got a chance to be a really, really good player. It’s all in there. He’s got some kind of power.”

After Rogers gave up the hat trick of homers, the Jays mounted little against Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson, who allowed just one hit while walking four in his seven strong innings.

“Their pitching shut us down,” Gibbons said.

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The Jays were hoping to set a new franchise record on Monday night, having twice before won 11 straight. One quirky note: all three times the Jays have had their 11-game win streaks snapped they have given up three home runs.

On Sept. 9, 1998, the Cleveland Indians undid a 3-0 Jays’ lead with back-to-back home runs and then won it with another long ball in the top of the 13th inning. The other time the Jays were prevented from reaching a dozen Ws came on June 14, 1987 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, when the Orioles won 8-5 and scored seven of their runs on three dingers.

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