Carlos Pena homered, Edwin Jackson won back-to-back starts for the first time since April and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 on Wednesday.The Rays won for the fourth time in six road games after losing seven straight away from home earlier this month.
Jackson (7-7) gave up two runs and seven hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out three.
The right-hander had not won consecutive starts since his first two outings of the season, winning at New York on April 5 and beating Seattle on April 10.
Four Tampa Bay relievers each worked a scoreless inning to preserve the victory. J.P Howell pitched the sixth, Grant Balfour struck out a pair in the seventh, Dan Wheeler handled the eighth and Troy Percival wrapped it up in the ninth for his 23rd save in 25 opportunities.
It was the 346th save of Percival’s career, tying him with Randy Myers for eighth on the all-time list.
Making his major league debut, Blue Jays right-hander Scott Richmond (0-1) allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1-3 innings.
After Carl Crawford put Tampa Bay in front with an RBI triple in the first, Lyle Overbay’s two-run homer in the bottom half put Toronto up 2-1. The homer was Overbay’s seventh.
Pena tied it with a leadoff homer in the fourth, his 18th. Eric Hinske followed with a double, moved up on Dioner Navarro’s single and scored when Gabe Gross hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
Overbay’s homer was the first and only hit the Blue Jays would get with runners in scoring position. They went 0-for-9 in such opportunities over the final eight innings.
Adam Lind went no further after a leadoff triple in the fourth, and Alex Rios and Overbay came up empty with men at first and second in the fifth. Matt Stairs drew a two-out walk but Lind flied out.
John McDonald and Joe Inglett had back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth, but Howell struck out Marco Scutaro to end the inning.
Scutaro started at third in place of Scott Rolen, who plans to skip some games and cut back on his batting practice while undergoing an “extensive” rehab program for his surgically repaired left shoulder. Rolen is in an 0-for-17 slump and is batting .163 (13-for-80) in July.
Xtra, xtra: Crawford’s triple was his fourth in five games. He leads the AL with nine. The Rays set a team record by winning their 21st series of the season. Tampa Bay OF Rocco Baldelli (fatigue) went 1-for-4 as the DH with Double-A Montgomery Tuesday. “He did fine, felt fine,” manager Joe Maddon said. Baldelli will DH again today and take Thursday off before playing the outfield Friday (Associated Press - Sports).
