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Rays power past Jays, 4-1, for 7th straight win

The Associated Press

Willy Aybar, right, and Dioner Navarro hug in the Rays dugout following Aybar's solo home run in the sixth inning.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 30, 2009

Updated: 07/01/2009 06:45 am

TORONTO - It's clear now that this is the run the Tampa Bay Rays have anticipated all season.

In taking down the Blue Jays 4-1 on Tuesday night to extend their winning streak to a season-high seven games, the Rays put their full arsenal on display.

It began with starting pitching, as Matt Garza kept a lid on the powerful Toronto offense all night even though he wasn't at his sharpest, and it finished with more impressive work by the bullpen. In between there were the latest home run barrage, three solo shots that capped the most prolific power month in team history, and a couple of highlight-reel plays in the field.

In other words, it was the kind of all-around game the Rays believe they should be able to put together more often than not. And the kind of game that became far more prevalent the last few weeks as the Rays capped a 19-7 month of June.

"That's our game. That's what I want to see us do," said Manager Joe Maddon. "Any time you look at a situation where we've been playing so well, for me it starts pretty much with pitching, and pretty much ends with pitching, too."

This game actually started with an emphatic statement from the Rays' offense, as B.J. Upton cranked Toronto starter Scott Richmond's first pitch of the game out to left-center for an immediate 1-0 lead.

Upton's homer was the Rays' 39th in June, establishing a club record for any month, but that was only the beginning Tuesday night. Carl Crawford hit his second long ball in as many nights in the third inning and Willy Aybar's drive to right-center leading off the sixth set the record a few notches higher at 41.

That show of force helped ease the way for Garza, who fought himself early in the game and ran up a higher pitch count than he would have liked - 82 through five innings - before making it one batter deep into the eighth.

Still, he limited the Blue Jays to one run - just the second earned run Toronto has managed against him in 45 innings over six starts the past two seasons. Garza didn't have an explanation for his dominance of the Jays' hitters, though; he was more concerned about the way he rushed through the first few innings, his body rushing ahead of his arm and affecting his command.

"I'm just happy that we won," he said.

He had some help from his defense, including impressive plays by Aybar - filling in at third base - sprawling across the foul line to snag a grounder and throw out Raul Chavez and Gabe Gross taking what appeared to be a double away from Adam Lind in the sixth by playing the carom off the wall and throwing him out at second.

After the Rays added one more run in the eighth on a Ben Zobrist sacrifice fly, it quickly became the bullpen's game to finish off. First Chad Bradford, then the ever-impressive Randy Choate, got the Rays out of the eighth unscathed despite a couple of base runners, and J.P. Howell worked the ninth for his sixth save.

"We've been playing good lately, and then we win another close game," Upton said. "The pitching's been great. Garza scuffled a little bit but kept us in it - I think we've seen him better than that - and the bullpen comes in again and does their job, gets out of a jam, and we end up with a win."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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