ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Kendrys Morales does something the rest of his teammates with the Toronto Blue Jays struggle to do -- get hits off Chris Archer.

Morales went 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs to lift the Blue Jays to an 8-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night at Tropicana Field.

Archer was rolling through the Toronto lineup with 11 strikeouts through six innings until Morales hit a two-run homer in the seventh to tie the score at 3. Morales is a .640 lifetime hitter against Archer.

"I don't know how I do it," Morales said. "Archer is one of the best pitchers in the game right now. All of his pitches are hard to hit. I just try to stay aggressive."

Aaron Loup pitched a scoreless seventh inning to pick up the win for Toronto (10-19).

Tampa Bay (15-16) took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh when Evan Longoria scored from third on a fielder's choice groundout by Daniel Robertson.

The Blue Jays tied the score at 4 in the top of the eighth when Devon Travis scored on Kevin Pillar's double to left field. After Rays reliever Jumbo Diaz walked Russell Martin to put runners at the corners, Morales homered to right field to make the score 7-4.

"It was a good comeback win, falling behind 3-0 with Archer on the mound," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "Our guys hang around and they make a run at it. They don't always win, but they make a run at it."

Toronto tacked on a run in the inning when Justin Smoak homered to right center off Rays reliever Justin Marks.

Diaz (0-2) gave up three runs in one-third of an inning for the loss. Archer gave up three runs and three hits in six innings. He struck out 11 batters.

"Obviously, the ballgame got away from us," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Archer was really good early. We got some runs, but we left a lot of guys on base. Kendrys Morales is tough. I know he's had a lot of success against Archer. Not a ton to be said except this is a tough loss."

Robertson and Derek Norris hit back-to-back home runs off Blue Jays starter Francisco Liriano to give the Rays a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth.

Liriano's troubles continued in the fourth when he loaded the bases with two outs and walked Steven Souza Jr. on a nine-pitch battle to bring home Tim Beckham and give the Rays a 3-0 lead. That finished Liriano.

Liriano went 3 2/3 innings and gave up three runs and five hits. He struck out five but walked five and threw 96 pitches -- 51 for strikes.

"I couldn't get anything going (in the fourth inning)," Liriano said. "I couldn't get anything going. I couldn't throw a strike, couldn't find my spot, couldn't find a rhythm. Nothing was working."

Toronto got to Archer in the top of the fifth when Morales led off the inning with a double and Smoak followed with an RBI single to make the score 3-1.

"I threw the ball pretty well," Archer said. "But it wasn't enough to win."

The Toronto bullpen combined to give up one run and two hits in 5 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts.

"For the most part this year, they have been really really good," Gibbons said. "We hit that stretch within the last two weeks, we had a little rough patch, but it's good group down there."

GAME NOTES: The Blue Jays designated RHP Mat Latos for assignment and claimed RHP Cesar Valdez from Oakland. Latos was scheduled to pitch Sunday but will be replaced by RHP Joe Biagini. ... Rays OF Kevin Kiermaier was hit on the right hand by a pitch in the fourth inning and removed from the game in the fifth inning. He was schedule to have X-rays on his hand.