The rallying Ottawa Renegades made things interesting, but ultimately couldn't come back from a 20-point halftime deficit to the Edmonton Eskimos Thursday night.

Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray threw three touchdown passes as his squad hung on for a 29-21 victory over the Renegades on a hot and humid night at Frank Clair Stadium

Ottawa Renegades Jason Armstead (right) gets tackled by Edmonton Eskimos A.J. Gass. (CP Photo/Jonathan Hayward)

Edmonton improved to 4-1 on the season to take top spot in the CFL's West Division, while Ottawa suffered its first home loss of the year and fell to 2-3.

Renegades pivot Kerry Joseph threw two touchdown passes in the second half to bring Ottawa within a touchdown, but the Renegades couldn't complete the comeback on their final drive of the game.

It was Edmonton's second victory over Ottawa this year. In the opening game of the season, the Eskimos demolished the Renegades 41-16 at Commonwealth Stadium.

The teams traded singles early in the opening quarter before the Eskimos found the end zone on the last play of the frame. Ray hit Ron McClendon for a 15-yard touchdown pass and an 8-1 Edmonton lead.

Ray struck again midway through the second quarter, this time connecting with Jason Tucker for a 25-yard scoring strike with 8:41 to play.

Following a defensive stand by Edmonton, punt returner Tony Tompkins, the CFL's special teams player of the week, produced the big play of the half with a 96-yard return for a touchdown and a 22-1 Eskimos lead at the half.

The Renegades didn't fold, however, and outscored the Eskimos in the third and fourth quarters.

Ottawa had the only fourth quarter points as Joseph connected with Pat Woodcock on a 20-yard touchdown pass and Edmonton kicker Sean Fleming conceded a two-point safety to avoid punting out of his own end zone with four minutes to play in the frame.

"We have to stop giving up those big first half leads," said Woodcock, who had a breakout game, catching seven passes for 98 yards.

"We didn't leave ourselves enough room to come back. We didn't play well in Edmonton and it's tough to open up the first game of the season against them, but we've played much better since then.

"We just have to put finishing touches on the last few details and start putting some wins together in a row."

The Renegades kicked off the third quarter with a 35-yard touchdown run by Josh Ranek, but the Eskimos restored their 20-point lead when Ray combined with Trevor Gaylor on a 37-yard catch and run for a major.

Ottawa punter Pat Fleming, filling in for injured Matt Kellett, connected on a 12-yard field goal to cut the lead to 17.

"It was a good way for us to bounce back offensively and our defence played great again," said Ray. "The only thing we needed to do maybe was score another touchdown in the second half and it would have been a real good game."

with files from Canadian Press and Sports Network