Recap: Tampa Bay vs. Toronto
Sports Network | August 28, 2008
St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Willy Aybar's solo home run in the sixth inning proved to be the difference, as Tampa Bay clipped Toronto, 3-2, in the finale of a three-game set from Tropicana Field. Cliff Floyd also homered and drove in the other two runs for the Rays, who took the final two games of the series and have won four of six overall. Coupled with Boston's 3-2 loss to the Yankees earlier Thursday, Tampa leads the Red Sox by 4 1/2 games in the AL East. Edwin Jackson (11-8) went seven-plus innings, allowing six hits and one run with two strikeouts. Dan Wheeler fanned two in his relief inning, earning his 10th save. Adam Lind and Rod Barajas knocked in a run each for the Blue Jays, who have dropped three of four. Jesse Litsch (9-8) took the loss for Toronto, yielding 10 hits and three runs over 6 2/3 innings, including a pair of home runs. Jackson departed after allowing a leadoff ground-rule double from Alex Rios in the eighth. Chad Bradford came in and got Vernon Wells on a groundout but Rios moved to third. He scored as Lind legged out an infield hit then Trever Miller got the call and fanned Lyle Overbay. Grant Balfour was called on to face Barajas, who burned the Rays with an RBI double. However, he struck out Jose Bautista to keep it a one-run game. Wheeler ended the contest by striking out Gregg Zaun and Joe Inglett, then inducing a line out from Marco Scutaro. Tampa got on the board in the first, as Akinori Iwamura led off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Floyd. Floyd launched a two-out solo homer to right-center in the third for a 2-0 Rays lead and Aybar's homer near the same spot boosted Tampa's lead to 3-0 in the sixth. Game Notes Tampa has won 11 of the 15 meetings this season...Jackson has won six of his last seven starts...Balfour lowered his ERA to 1.44 with his scoreless one- third of an inning...Litsch has dropped four of his last six starts with a no- decision thrown in. Game Notes Tampa has won 11 of the 15 meetings this season...Jackson has won six of his last seven starts...Balfour lowered his ERA to 1.44 with his scoreless one- third of an inning...Litsch has dropped four of his last six starts with a no- decision thrown in.
