St. Petersburg, PA – Luke Scott drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays salvaged a split in a four-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays with a 5-4 victory at Tropicana Field.
Toronto reliever Aaron Loup (1-3) retired the first two batters in the 10th before Evan Longoria doubled. Longoria nearly scored the go-ahead run two innings earlier, but was thrown out at home on a Scott single.
After intentionally walking James Loney, Loup was replaced by Brad Lincoln, who issued a free pass to Ryan Roberts that loaded the bases.
Scott quickly fell behind 0-2 in the count before working the decisive walk.
"You never want to see it happen that way," Lincoln said of the loss. "Come in, throw strikes and get the job done. But it happened and you have to put it past you and move on."
For just the third time in history, the reigning Cy Young Award winners squared off.
Tampa Bay's David Price gave up four runs -- two earned -- on seven hits over eight innings. He struck out eight batters and walked one.
"I thought that was his best stuff all season," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Price. "He pitched really well. I thought he had everything going."
R.A. Dickey tossed six innings for Toronto, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on five hits and five walks. The knuckleballer was in line for the win before Yunel Escobar knotted the game at 4-4 by homering to center field off reliever Steve Delabar to open the seventh.
The Blue Jays threatened in the ninth, but Fernando Rodney fanned Melky Cabrera with two men aboard. Kyle Farnsworth (2-0) tossed a flawless frame in the top of the 10th.
The Rays jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Longoria brought home Kelly Johnson with a two-out double and scored on a base hit by Matt Joyce.
Toronto got a run back in the second, however, then moved ahead in the next inning.
Rajai Davis reached on a Longoria throwing error with one out in the third and raced home on Jose Bautista's two-out double. Edwin Encarnacion, who came around to score the Blue Jays' first run on a Brett Lawrie single in the second, followed with a base hit, plating Bautista for a 3-2 Toronto lead.
Tampa Bay pulled even in the home half of the third as Ben Zobrist tripled and raced home on a passed ball.
The Blue Jays, though, went back in front in the fifth. Davis singled to begin the inning and stole two bases before scoring on Bautista's sac fly to center.
Game Notes
Thursday's matchup between the reigning Cy Young Award winners was the first since Atlanta's Tom Glavine faced Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees on July 15, 1999. The only other such occurrence was Aug. 28, 1989, when Frank Viola of the New York Mets opposed Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers ... The Rays haven't lost a home series to Toronto since dropping two of three April 6-8, 2007 ... The Blue Jays optioned pitcher Ricky Romero to Triple-A Buffalo, designated pitcher Edgar Gonzalez for assignment and selected the contracts of pitchers Ramon Ortiz and Mickey Storey from Buffalo.
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