• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Blue Jays score six in ninth, top Devil Rays

Jun 6, 2007 - 8:13 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Toronto Blue Jays rallied for six runs to defeat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 12-11, on Tuesday.

Trailing, 11-6, Toronto benefited from four doubles, a passed ball and a game-ending, bases-loaded walk to Aaron Hill that capped the comeback.

Four Tampa Bay pitchers - Chad Orvella, Sean Camp, Casey Fossum (3-6) and Tim Corcoran - combined to get only one out in the ninth inning. Devil Rays closer Al Reyes had pitched in Tampa Bay's previous three games.

"It was the right thing to do to not pitch him (Reyes) tonight," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "You'd like to think we could get three outs with a five-run lead by using several different pitches. It's very disappointing, it's a bad moment."

Adam Lind, who had a career-high five RBI, started the inning with a double to center field scoring Aaron Hill who walked to lead it off. Jason Phillips, Vernon Wells and Matt Stairs then followed with run-scoring doubles - with Wells driving in two runs - to tie the game.

"We were down by five, we threw some pretty good at-bats out there a walk, and back-to-back doubles and then Vernon's very big hit. It was a huge win," Stairs said.

A passed ball then pushed runners to second and third and, after an intentional walk, Corcoran walked Hill on five pitches to end the game.

"Anytime you start off an inning you're down you want to get a good at-bat and hopefully try to start something. It was neat to start and finish it," Hill said.

Before the chaotic ninth, Tampa Bay's B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford did their best to give rookie Andy Sonnanstine plenty of offense in his major-league debut.

"I was pretty amped up to go out every inning," Sonnanstine said. I was just trying to keep the ball in the zone especially with that lead."

Upton and Crawford belted back-to-back home runs as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays posted back-to-back four-run innings.

Upton, who clubbed a two-run homer in the fourth, went 4-for-6 with two runs scored.

Crawford, who finished with three hits, highlighted the four-run third inning with an RBI single off Toronto starter Roy Halladay. The hit was Crawford's 871st of his career, which surpassed Aubrey Huff for the franchise lead.

"It's great, but it's kind of bittersweet, we ended up losing tonight. It's a good milestone, I'm happy about it," Crawford said.

Crawford also doubled home Upton in the sixth to give Tampa Bay a 9-5 lead.

Sonnanstine, who was drafted in the 13th round in 2004 out of Kent State University, allowed six runs on eight hits in seven innings.

The 24-year-old righthander ran into trouble in the fourth. Lind, whose RBI single in the second gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead, belted a three-run homer to cut into the Devil Rays' lead at 8-4.

"I wasn't breathing (during the ninth), I was sitting there shaking saying come on guys let's go," Lind said.

Halladay (5-2) struggled in his second start since coming off the 15-day disabled list after he underwent an emergency appendectomy on May 11.

The 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner allowed eight runs on 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

"It's disappointing for me, it's tough to come out of games like that," Halladay said.

Toronto catcher Sal Fasano left the game in the top of the eighth inning with a groin injury and is day to day.