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Navarro's Grand Slam In 13th Lifts Rays Over Jays

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Carlos Pena congratulates Dioner Navarro after his 13th-inning grand slam in Thursday's win at Toronto.

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By MARC LANCASTER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 9, 2008

TORONTO - The ninth inning of Thursday night's game brought back some unpleasant bullpen memories for the Rays. Lucky for them, a pitcher who was responsible for a few of those forgettable moments in the past was around to help bail them out four innings later.

After watching Troy Percival's perfect run closing games come to an abrupt halt when he allowed three Toronto runs to score in the bottom of the ninth, the Rays bided their time until the Blue Jays brought Shawn Camp to the mound for the 13th. Five runs later, they had themselves an 8-3 victory that took far longer than it should have.

The Rays didn't mind, since it meant capturing a second series of the three they played on a 4-5 road trip. And that's exactly what they did after a Carl Crawford sacrifice fly off Camp drove in the go-ahead run in the 13th and Dioner Navarro's subsequent grand slam ensured there would be no further drama.

"We had it and then we gave it up, but we got it back," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "That's the kind of game that if you lose that game going into tonight it's really rather devastating. But then again, when you win it with this kind of script, it can be something that catapults you in a positive way."

The Rays had a different script in mind earlier in the evening, with Percival needing just three outs with a three-run lead to polish off Edwin Jackson's eight scoreless innings. No one expected Percival to be perfect all season, but what transpired certainly qualified as a shock.

The closer had allowed just three runners to reach base in 11 innings this season entering Thursday, but the Blue Jays collected four hits against him in the ninth. And they weren't cheap.

Scott Rolen continued his hot streak with a leadoff single, his third hit of the night, before Percival got a called third strike on Matt Stairs. He got behind Vernon Wells 2-0, however, and the center fielder mauled Percival's next offering into the club level well beyond the left-field wall to make it 3-2. Lyle Overbay followed by crushing a double to left-center and pinch-runner Joe Inglett came home to tie the game when Aaron Hill singled up the middle.

Percival recovered to retire the next two batters to send the game to extra innings, leaving the Rays an opening.

It appeared the game would end quickly as Alex Rios tripled off Dan Wheeler to open the bottom half, putting the winning run on third. With the Rays' infielders and outfielders drawn in, Wheeler picked his way through the rest of the inning like a man walking through a minefield. He got a called third strike on Shannon Stewart, then intentionally walked Rolen in the easiest strategic call of the night.

Wheeler then struck out Stairs to allow his fielders to return to their usual positions before issuing what amounted to an unintentional intentional walk of Wells by burying four straight sliders in the dirt. That brought Rod Barajas, who had replaced Overbay at first base, to the plate for the first time. Wheeler struck him out to strand Rios and bring on the 11th.

"What Wheels did was nothing short of miraculous," said Maddon. "To pull that off in that inning with the way it was set up, tremendous piece of pitching on his part."

J.P. Howell came on for the 11th and kept things calm, cruising through a couple of innings while the Rays' hitters recharged.

They got it going in the 13th when Jason Bartlett led off with a single off Hill's glove and an Akinori Iwamura single to right moved his keystone partner to third. Crawford's fly to right was deep enough to allow a tumbling Bartlett to beat Rios' off-line throw, but the Rays weren't done there. They loaded the bases and Navarro came to the plate with two outs, working the count full before launching one to right for his second career grand slam.

The late-inning machinations that finally brought the game to its conclusion overshadowed another fine matchup of starting pitchers. Pinellas Park's Jesse Litsch, the former Rays batboy, was perfect through 42/3 innings before Navarro singled and Gabe Gross hit a two-run homer to open the scoring. Carlos Pena would contribute a solo shot down the left-field line leading off the seventh and the Rays had a 3-0 lead.

That margin felt comfortable thanks to the work Jackson was doing. He scattered six hits and stranded a couple of runners at third, but his pitch count ran to 112 (a team high this year) by the end of the eighth, prompting Maddon to summon Percival.

"Percy just didn't get it done today and that's going to happen," said Maddon. "But to his credit he did not let the fourth run get in."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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