(Updated: CHANGE: Updates AL East standings 3RD graph)
Rays 5, Blue Jays 4: Jose Lobaton hit a walk-off triple as Tampa Bay edged visiting Toronto.
After surrendering a one-run lead in the eighth inning, the Rays salvaged the victory an inning later. Yunel Escobar drew a leadoff walk off Aaron Loup (4-6) and came around to score after Lobaton hit a shot down the right-field line that Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista couldn’t field cleanly.
Fernando Rodney (5-3) earned the win with a scoreless ninth as the Rays closed to within one game of Boston atop the American League East.
Toronto struck in the first on Adam Lind’s two-out RBI single to right field, but Tampa Bay responded with a run in the third. Escobar tripled to lead off the inning and Lobaton drove him in with a single to left-center.
Edwin Encarnacion’s RBI single put Toronto back in front in the fifth and Anthony Gose added to the lead in the sixth with a run-scoring single up the middle. Matt Joyce belted a solo home run in the bottom half to trim the deficit, and the Rays pulled ahead in the seventh on an Escobar RBI groundout and Sam Fuld’s go-ahead single to left.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey surrendered four runs on six hits, fanning six over seven innings. Tampa Bay counterpart Jeremy Hellickson allowed three runs on nine hits over six frames. … Toronto hasn’t won a series at Tropicana Field since April 2007. … Joyce’s 15th homer of the season ended a stretch of 123 at-bats without going deep, the longest of his career.
