TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Crawford's offense not enough to stop Rays' skid

The Associated Press

Tampa Bay Rays' Carl Crawford is caught stealing second by Toronto Blue Jays' Aaron Hill, left, during the first inning.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: August 14, 2009

Updated: 08/14/2009 11:04 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Roy Halladay gave up two runs over eight innings for his 13th win and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 on Friday night.

Halladay (13-5) was 0-2 in three previous starts against Tampa Bay this season. The right-hander allowed eight hits and struck out six in pitching at least eight innings for the fifth time in his last six starts.

The Blue Jays got homers from Lyle Overbay and Adam Lind. Jason Frasor pitched the ninth to record his sixth save.

Carl Crawford had four hits, including two doubles, for the Rays, who have lost five consecutive games. James Shields (7-9) gave up five runs and eight hits in eight innings.

Overbay put the Blue Jays up 2-0 in the first with a two-run homer. In nine games since being moved into the fourth spot of the lineup, Overbay has three homers and seven RBIs.

Toronto went ahead 4-0 in the second on an RBI double by Joe Inglett and Marco Scutaro's sacrifice fly. Lind hit a third-inning solo shot that made it 5-0.

Crawford doubled and later scored on Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly in the sixth. Gregg Zaun hit a solo homer during the eighth.

Tampa Bay had two runners on in both the third and fourth, but failed to score. Halladay got a double-play grounder from Jason Bartlett to end the third, and retired three in a row — including strikeouts by Carlos Pena and Pat Burrell — with runners on first and third in the fourth.

Vernon Wells singled in the third to tie Lloyd Moseby (1,319) for third on the Blue Jays' all-time hit list.

After that hit, Shields retired his next 16 batters before Overbay had a two-out single in the eighth.

NOTES: Tampa Bay held a players only meeting before batting practice. The Rays were coming off a 1-5 road trip. ... Toronto recalled RHP Casey Janssen from Triple-A Las Vegas. He will work out of the bullpen. ... Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura (left knee surgery) started a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Durham. ... Blue Jays DH Randy Ruiz, who had his contract purchased Tuesday from Las Vegas, is working out in the outfield and will get some defensive playing time.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT