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
By SportsDirect Inc.
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 Bautista | Player |
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 |
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