4/22 - 11th Inning Walk-Off Puts Rays in First

After an off day in which the Blue Jays lost, bringing them down to a tie for first with the Rays (along with the Red Sox) in the AL East division, the Blue Jays and Rays squared off at the Trop. In a scoreless tie in the fourth, the Rays struck first with RBI singles hit by Evan Longoria scoring Carlos Pena, and Cliff Floyd knocking in Longoria, but the Blue Jays would come back to tie it with a two-run homer hit by Matt Stairs in the top of the fifth. The Rays then took the lead again in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI double hit by Evan Longoria, but Matt Stairs did it again in the top of the seventh tying it up with a solo shot. Going into extra innings, the Blue Jays scored with an RBI single hit by Alex Rios scoring David Eckstein. The Blue Jays then brought in B.J. Ryan in the bottom of the inning to close it out, but the Blue Jays just couldn't hang on to it. After an RBI hit by Iwamura, scoring Rocco Baldelli and tying the game, B.J. Upton came to the plate, and blasted two-run homer to dead center field on the first pitch of the at bat for the victory. Rays starting pitcher Hideo Nomo pitched seven innigs giving up three of the Blue Jays runs (Matt Stairs' two homers) on five hits and striking out twelve. With the Red Sox 6-5 victory over the Angels, the Rays and Red Sox are still tied for first.

Final Score:

Blue Jays: 4

Rays: 6

WP - Jason Hammel (2-2) | LP - B.J. Ryan (1-1) | SV - 

HR:

B.J. Upton - Rays (2)

Matt Stairs - Blue Jays (3)

Matt Stairs - Blue Jays (4)