Pena's homer helps Rays past Jays

TORONTO (AP) -- Carlos Pena homered, Edwin Jackson won back-to-back starts for the first time since April and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 on Wednesday.

The Rays won for the fourth time in six road games after losing seven straight away from home earlier this month.

Jackson (7-7) gave up two runs and seven hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out three.

The right-hander had not won consecutive starts since his first two outings of the season, winning at New York on April 5 and beating Seattle on April 10.

Four Tampa Bay relievers each worked a scoreless inning to preserve the victory. J.P Howell pitched the sixth, Grant Balfour struck out a pair in the seventh, Dan Wheeler handled the eighth and Troy Percival wrapped it up in the ninth for his 23rd save in 25 opportunities.

It was the 346th save of Percival's career, tying him with Randy Myers for eighth on the all-time list.

(Pictured: Evan Longoria, left, and B.J. Upton, right, celebrate the Rays' win. AP photo. Click to enlarge.)

Comments

[joey]

Anyone have tickets for saturdays game
i need tickets

[rayalan]

To say the Rays management group could learn a few things from the Yankees management group is down right farcical. The only thing they have more than the Rays is money, Baseball grey matter, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

[David]

How bout Barry Bonds, he's still available ! :)

[Marc]

Sounds like Rays will bring Rocco up for filling the right handed hitter need and get Dunn for DH and provide some power and punch into the lineup.

Doesn't look like Bay to TB.. looks like he ends up in Boston if Manny goes to the Marlins.

[Brian]

O.K. folks, we are heading toward the final stretch. Let's fill the trop and blow the roof off!

[SC]

To answer an earlier post, Pudge is batting 50 points better than Yankee catchers combined, he has 5 HR's to a combined Yankee catchers total of 3. He is a winner (06 World Series), he knows how to call a game. Like you said, the Yankees are doing what they need to to win the division.

The Rays need a right handed bat DESPERATELY, and they have done nothing to remedy that situation. The have great pitching, good D, and just an ok offense. Are the Rays serious about going to the playoffs, or just teasing the fans?

Tune in for the trade breakdowns tomorrow night.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Stacy-Cole-Show Come listen Monday-Friday 8:30-9:30 PM www.stacycoleshow.com

[Mark]

Nevermind that whole thing about how big the division lead will be.

It's either going to be 3 games or 2 games going into Friday because Boston isn't playing tomorrow.

But it looks like it will be 3 games because the Halos are going to town on Boston right now. :D

[Mark]

We'll either have a 1 1/2 game lead or 3 1/2 game lead for the division going into Friday.

This road trip, while average, was good enough to maintain the division lead, and what better way to pad that lead just a bit than to come home for a 7-game homestand?

August will be a tough month due to the amount of road games.

Like I mentioned, 4-3 on this past road trip, and 13-12 for the month of July, despite the 7-game losing streak. You can't get worse by having a winning record!

[dick]

I cannot stand the Yankees but you got to admire the way they do business. If they remotely think they need something--just like going to Home Depot, they go get it. Why they "needed" Pudge Rodrigez is anybody's guess but they went and got him. Posada can't catch for the rest of the year and Molina is good so perhaps they are planning to use Pudge as a back-up. Admire or hate them, they look upon this as a business and act accordingly. Hopefully, our young owners are observant and learn..

[Syl]

I love that picture. BJ looks like he is doing the Monster Mash.

[Greg]

Way to go Rays! These are the types of games we have to win. What an effort by the entire pitching crew! Now lets see the Trop full this weekend. Go RAYS Go!