Brett Cecil pitched into the seventh inning to earn his fifth straight victory and the Toronto Blue Jays halted a three-game losing streak Thursday night with a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Cecil (7-3) kept the Rays' powerhouse offense in check, surrendering Carlos Pena's fifth home run in the past four games but allowing just two other hits over 6 1/3 innings. The second-year hurler walked three and struck out two while lowering his ERA to 3.22.
Jays shortstop Alex Gonzalez belted his 13th home run of the season, a solo shot in the second inning, and added an sacrifice fly in the eighth inning that brought home the eventual winning run. John Buck chipped in with three hits in the victory, while Kevin Gregg earned his 15th save despite a shaky ninth inning.
Wade Davis (5-6) was the hard-luck loser, allowing three runs on seven hits over seven solid innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
Sean Rodriguez added a ninth-inning solo home run in defeat for Tampa, which lost to Toronto for just the fifth time in their past 24 meetings at Tropicana Field.
Toronto | Tampa Bay | |
Brett Cecil | Player | Wade Davis |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.2 | IP | 7.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 7 |
3 | Hits | 7 |
1.35 | ERA | 3.86 |
Toronto | Tampa Bay | |
John Buck | Player | Kelly Shoppach |
3 | Hits | 1 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 1 |
.750 | Avg | 1.000 |