Rays-Jays: Two Out of Three Ain't Bad for Tampa in Toronto

With apologies to the Meatloaf song in the title of this article, the Rays took two out of three games in Toronto to finish off an amazing 10-game road trip that saw them rally for victories five times. Included in this run was the greatest comeback in Tampa Bay history as well as Tampa Bay being on the short end of a perfect game.

Tampa Bay knew that the 10-game road trip coming out of the all-star break would be daunting. It very well could have buried their season. Instead, Tampa Bay went 6-4 and is still within striking distance of their two divisional rivals with 18 games remaining against the Yankees and Red Sox.

It starts tomorrow night back at Tropicana Field against the first place Yankees.

As for the Toronto series, the Rays had to work overtime to secure the series victory.

Game one featured a classic pitchers duel between Toronto Ace Roy Halladay and one of the best pitchers in the Rays arsenal, Matt Garza. It may have been the last outing for Halladay in a Toronto uniform and he sure did give them something to remember him by.

One day after being perfected, the Rays hitters were again silenced. Scattering four hits across nine innings, Halladay only got in trouble in the third inning. He walked Jason Bartlett to begin the stanza, then gave up a double to BJ Upton putting men on second and third with nobody out. A pair of sacrifice flies later and Tampa Bay found themselves ahead 2-0.

It would be a short-lived lead. After allowing a lead-off single to Alex Rios, who took second on a throwing error, Garza got the next two batters to fly out. Marco Scutaro singled to score Rios and cut the Tampa Bay advantage to one. Aaron Hill followed with a double to deep right center to tie the game at two.

Tied it would remain as both pitchers matched each other strike for strike. After nine innings, the game headed for free baseball with nearly identical lines for Garza and Halladay.

• Garza—9 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts.
• Halladay—9 innings, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts.

Garza remained the pitcher of record as we moved into the 10th when Evan Longoria doubled home BJ Upton and Carl Crawford to give the Rays a 4-2 edge. JP Howell would come in to save the game (his 11th) for Garza who saw his record climb back to .500 at 7-7.

In game two, a very disturbing trend for the Rays continued. The guy who was supposed to be the phenom for Tampa Bay got shelled yet again. David Price, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 amateur draft, apparently can't pitch away from Tropicana Field.

Price gave up six runs on nine hits, including three big flies in only three innings of work. He would leave with his baseball team down 6-0. In six road starts this season, Price is 0-3 with a 8.20 ERA. He's much better at home, 3-1 with a 3.04 ERA. Tampa Bay has to be wondering if they rushed the youngster into the lineup to quickly.

Lance Cormier wouldn't fare much better for Tampa Bay, giving up a long one to Aaron Hill in the fourth—his second of the game to get the Jays an 8-0 lead.

Tampa Bay would show life in the sixth when BJ Upton singled to left, scoring Dioner Navarro, but Toronto answered that run in the bottom half of the stanza on an Adam Lind fielder's choice. The lead was 9-1 heading into the seventh inning.

Blue Jays starter Brian Tallet had begun to tire, giving up consecutive hits to Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist, then walking Pat Burrell to load the bases with no one out.

Carlos Pena, who's had a nightmare of a July, tripled, clearing the bases to cut the lead to 9-4. Brandon League would come in to relieve Tallet and Pena would eventually come home on a fielder's choice by Willy Aybar.

Down by four, Tampa Bay continued their comeback in the top of the eighth, as a Pat Burrell single scored both Longoria and Zobrist to shave the lead to 9-7.

In the ninth, they faced reliever Scott Downs who tried to lock down the win for Toronto. The first batter he faced, Pena, launched a homer to left to cut the lead to one. After getting Gabe Gross to ground out, Downs gave a go-fer ball to Willy Aybar, who promptly deposited it into center field cheap seats to tie the game at nine.

The innings churned threw the 10th, the 11th—then finally in inning No. 12 Jason Bartlett squeaked a base hit down the left field line that was just fair to score Ben Zobrist and give the Rays a 10-9 edge. The drama was far from over.

In the bottom of the 12th, the only remaining member of the Tampa Bay bullpen, Joe Nelson, came on for the save. Nelson promptly walked Alex Rios. Jose Bautista sacrificed Rios to second. Nelson's control problems continued as he walked Rod Barajas and Marco Scutaro to load the bases with only one out.

Hill came to the plate but Nelson finally found it, striking the slugger out looking. Up came Adam Lind, but Nelson got him to ground out to Zobrist at second to allow Tampa Bay to escape with a win.

There would be no such comeback in game three. Perhaps running on fumes after a long, exciting road trip and facing a team embarrassed in their last outing, the Blue Jays outplayed Tampa Bay in every facet of the game.

The hot and cold Rays offense again was cold, managing only five hits and one run against young lefty Brett Cecil while the Rays' young surprise, Jeff Niemann, had a rare off day, giving up five runs in six-and-two-thirds innings of work.

Toronto raced to a 3-0 lead on Scott Rolen's three-run homer in the fourth inning. Carl Crawford managed the only offense for Tampa Bay, homering to left in the sixth. Vernon Wells and Marco Scutaro would add RBI in the later innings to provide the 5-1 victory.

The only bright spot in this one for Tampa Bay is Niemann worked into the seventh inning, giving the Rays bullpen a rest after two games of intensive work.

All in all, the Rays were fortunate to find ways to win six of the 10 games on the trip. It could have easily been a 1-9 trip that would have all but ended their postseason hopes. The heart of this team was on display and it will have to continue for this nine-game home stand.

The Yankees and Boston both will be making their trips to the Trop and there's no time like the present for Tampa Bay to start shaving games off their deficit.