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Five-run sixth propels Devil Rays past Blue Jays

Sep 30, 2007 - 9:43 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Devil Rays scored five times in the sixth inning off nemesis A.J. Burnett en route to an 8-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday in the season finale for both teams.

The win helped the Devil Rays (66-96) avoid a three-game sweep to end the season. The Blue Jays (83-78) finished in third place in the American League East for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons.

Burnett entered the contest with 6-1 record with a 2.45 ERA in 12 career starts vs. Tampa Bay, but could not hold a 4-2 lead in the sixth.

"His pitches were getting up there a little bit," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "I thought we had a lot of good at-bats even prior to that inning. It was nice to see especially against a guy that has had success against us."

Jorge Velandia walked to open the inning, and after Carlos Pena singled, Greg Norton singled to right field to score Velandia.

Raul Casanova, who had three hits, singled to right to plate Pena. One out later, Jonny Gomes hit a sacrifice fly to score Norton.

"We were getting in a lot of fastball-situation counts in that inning," Casanova said. "Burnett's tough when he throws his offspeed pitch for strikes, that's when A.J. is at his best, so we were trying to stay away from the breaking ball."

Dioner Navarro then scored on a triple to deep right by Joel Guzman, who promptly scored on a single by Justin Ruggiano to make it 7-4.

That was all for Burnett (10-8), who allowed seven runs and eight hits, striking out six with a pair of walks.

The five-run outburst made a winner of Jason Hammel (3-5), who pitched five innings, allowing four runs and seven hits.

"It feels real good to finish up the year," Hammel said. "I struggled with command of my offspeed pitch, but I battled through it and kept the team in the game. Hats off to the hitters - they played really well today."

Grant Balfour, Jon Switzer, Scott Dohmann and Gary Glover bridged the gap to Al Reyes, who pitched the ninth to record his 26th save of the season.

Pena gave the Devil Rays a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a home run to right field. It was his 46th home run and 121st RBI to set Tampa Bay franchise records.

"I'm glad we got that win to end up on a good note," said Pena, who was a non-roster invitee this spring. "Personally, I'm just extremely happy and thankful and excited about (my season). This year has been an incredible blessing."

Toronto knotted the score in the bottom half with an RBI single from Alex Rios, then took a 2-1 lead in the second on an RBI triple by Joe Inglett.

Inglett made it 3-1 with a run-scoring single in the third, and the teams traded runs in the fifth inning, setting the stage for Tampa Bay's offensive surge.

"Today was a tough one," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "Sometimes, September is a tough month to play, but the guys should hold their heads high."