David Price tries to shake off a hard luck loss his last game set with the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
After winning his two previous starts Price pitched well enough to win again on Tuesday against Detroit, as he allowed two runs and six hits in eight innings. The Rays though, scored only once in the 2-1 setback, dropping Price to 11-11 on the year to go along with a 3.53 ERA.
Price lost to the Jays the last time he faced them, but is an impressive 8-1 lifetime against them with a 2.19 ERA in 10 starts.
Tampa won for the seventh time in its last 10 games on Saturday, as B.J. Upton's three-run homer in the seventh inning proved to be the difference in a 6-5 win. Sean Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored for the Rays, who have won the first two games of this series.
Jeff Niemann (9-5) gave up three runs on five hits over 6 1/3 innings to pick up the win. He struck out six and walked two.
"Not great but good," manager Joe Maddon said. "He got through it. He started out slowly. I thought he settled in well and I thought eventually at the end there you could see that he got tired."
Coming into Saturday's game, the Rays had 11 consecutive starts of seven or more innings, the longest streak in club history and longest by any team since June 11-23, 2003, when the Seattle Mariners had 11 straight starts of seven innings or longer.
"I didn't know that," Niemann said. "I knew we had been doing well, but I didn't know it was like that."
Eric Thames and Edwin Encarnacion each hit solo homers in the eighth for the Blue Jays, who have lost three in a row.
Toronto starter Luis Perez allowed two runs on five hits over five innings. Shawn Camp (1-3) gave up one run on two hits in the sixth to take the loss.
Today, Toronto will hand the ball to hard-throwing righty Brandon Morrow, who is 9-8 with a 4.65 ERA. Morrow lost for the third time in four starts on Tuesday against Kansas City, as he surrendered six runs and 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings.
He has faced the Rays 10 times (six starts) and is 3-2 against them with a 18.87 ERA.
Tampa is 9-4 against the Jays this season.
