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Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Tampa Bay 6, Toronto 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, September 24, 2011
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Ed Rapuano, 1B - Ed Hickox, 2B - Mark Wegner, 3B - Alfonso Marquez
Attendance: 27773

Rookie Alex Torres pitched five shutout innings in relief, and Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer in the eighth to seal the Tampa Bay Rays' 6-2 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

The victory pulled the Rays within 1 ½ games of the Boston Red Sox in the American League wild-card race.

Torres (1-1) collected his first major-league win in his fourth career appearance. He allowed just three hits and struck out five after replacing struggling starter Jeff Niemann to start to second inning.

Damon went 3-for-3, including his clutch two-out homer off Ricky Romero (15-11). Romero, who gave up just one earned run, lost for only the second time since mid July.

Jose Bautista, after going nine games without a homer, hit a two-run blast in the first to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. It was his major-league-leading 43rd.

Toronto made two errors and let Damon’s pop up drop in short-center field for an RBI double, allowing the Rays to score twice in the bottom of the first. Ben Zobrist belted a solo homer, leading off the fourth, for a 3-2 Rays lead.

Niemann, who had his start pushed back two days due to back soreness, threw 38 pitches in the first.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Toronto   Tampa Bay
Ricky Romero Player Jeff Niemann
Loss W/L No Decision
7.2 IP 1.0
5 Strikeouts 0
6 Hits 2
1.17 ERA 18.00
Hitting
Toronto   Tampa Bay
Jose BautistaPlayer Johnny Damon
2 Hits 3
2 RBI 4
1 HR 1
5 TB 7
.667 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Toronto 6 1 10 .194 6 10 2 3 0 3
Tampa Bay 6 2 13 .207 14 5 5 2 3 0