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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Rays 6, Jays 2: Notes from another big win

Posted Sep 25, 2011 by Roger Mooney

Updated Sep 24, 2011 at 11:54 PM

Ben Zobrist is congratulated in the dugout Saturday after his fourth inning home run gave the Rays the lead in a game they would win 6-2.

ROGER MOONEY
ST. PETERSBURG Aside from a few brief hours last Monday, the Rays are the closest to the Wild Card lead as they were June 30 when they trailed the Red Sox by 1 ½ games.

The Rays moved a game closer to the BoSox after beating the Blue Jays 6-2 at the Trop while the Red Sox stunning collapse continued with a 9-1 thumping by the Yankees in the Bronx.

The Rays have four games left. The Red Sox have five, including a doubleheader today in New York. That means a Rays victory coupled with a Yankees sweep puts the Rays in a tie for the Wild Card lead with the Red Sox.

Rookie left-hander Alex Torres, who threw five innings in relief of Jeff Niemann, earned his first career victory.

Ben Zobrist and Johnny Damon homered for the Rays, who scored five unearned runs in the victory.

Here are some notes from a much-needed victory …

—Jeff Niemann’s one-inning outing was the shortest since James Shields threw one inning against the Red Sox on June 5, 2008 – The Coco Crisp game – and one inning Sept. 28 of that same season, which was a tune-up for his start a few days later in the ALDS.

Niemann had his shortest start since April 8, 2010 when he was struck by a line drive and was removed from the game after 1 1/3 innings.

—The last time the Rays won when their starter was knocked out in an inning or less was June 22, 2004 when Chad Gaudin walked four of the first five batters he faced and the bullpen allowed one run in 8 1/3 innings of a 5-1 victory.

—Alex Torres became the first Rays reliever to throw five innings in relief since Doug Waechter did it June 3, 2005 at Seattle. He’s the first Tampa Bay rookie to do it since Delvin James on Sept. 24, 2002 at New York.

—Zobrist has three home runs and seven RBIs in his last three games. Three of his last five hits have been home runs.

His 14 game-winning RBIs are one shy of Evan Longoria’s team-lead.

—B.J. Upton stole his 33rd base of the season. He has 22 home runs and 33 RBIs. Only two other players have that many home runs with that many stolen bases – Matt Kemp and Jacoby Ellsbury.

—Damon has 2,720 career hits, one shy of tying Lou Gehrig for 57th place on the all-time hit list.

He is 5-for-7 with two home runs and seven RBIs in his last three games.