Game 1: The Rays blew a late lead but came back in the bottom of the 8th to win anyway 5-4 over Toronto in their series opener at Publix Park. Tony Cordova's 3rd homer of the year tied it at 4, and then Mario Saro singled, stole second and went to third before Jose Castillo brought him home with a sac fly. That made a winner of Dan Anderson (1-0), who blew the lead for Gordie Ager who went 6 7 2 2 0 7. Willie Minier fanned a pair in a 1-2-3 9th for save #7. Earlier Yuji Morioka drove in a pair with a groundout and his 6th homer.
Game 2: More bullpen problems again and this time they were costly in a 5-4 loss to the Jays. BJ Turner (1-1) gave up a pair of runs in the 7th which broke a 3-3 tie and sent them to defeat. Greg Bookhart started and was unusually wild at 5 6 3 3 6 1 but limited the damage while they got early homers from Mario Saro (#8) and Doug Johns (#4).
Game 3: And for the third straight game the pen faltered but like in Game 1 they came back anyway to walk it off 8-7, loading the bases with the first three batters of the 9th before Luis Barela capped a big day with a sac fly. Jim Brophy continues to be a problem, going 4.2 6 5 5 2 2 but they held a 7-5 lead going to the 9th when it was Willie Minier's turn to struggle, allowing a pair of runs for the Jays to tie in part due to his own fielding error. Minier did end up vulturing his first win of the year. Barela meanwhile was 3-4 with HR #5 and 3 RBI and Mario Saro continued to rake, going 3-5 with 3 steals (an MLB-best 12 for the year) while Yuji Morioka drove in a pair.
Team record: 22-10. Next up: An off-day then Atlanta visits for 2 games.
Saro's big week received recognition:
