• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Rays-Blue Jays Preview

Jun 30, 2009 - 5:10 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Tampa Bay (42-35) at Toronto (41-36), 7:07 p.m. EDT

In the middle of last month, the Toronto Blue Jays were the surprising team atop the AL East while the Tampa Bay Rays were trying to shake off to a disappointing start.

Thanks to their recent surge, the Rays have passed the Blue Jays and will try for a season-high seventh straight win as the teams continue a three-game series Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.

On May 18, the Blue Jays were 3 1/2 games ahead of Boston after winning 27 of their first 41 games. The Rays, meanwhile, had gotten back to .500 at 20-20 after losing 14 of their first 22. Since then, Toronto has 23 losses in its past 37 games, while Tampa Bay (43-35) has won 23 of 38 to move two games clear of the Blue Jays for third in the East.

The Rays won Monday night's opener 4-1 to hand Toronto ace Roy Halladay his second loss this season. Carl Crawford's two-run homer in the third inning provided all the offense they would need against Halladay, who had given up one home run in his previous eight starts.

Pat Burrell added a solo shot in the seventh after Halladay departed, and B.J. Upton had his sixth RBI in four games with a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

"We're on a good roll right now," said Crawford, whose next double will give him franchise records in eight different categories. "We're still climbing back up the standings. We're just trying to get into a groove and stay there."

Crawford has batted .469 (15 for 32) during an eight-game hitting streak and is one reason why Tampa Bay has hit .304 during a 14-4 stretch. The Rays also have 38 homers this month, matching a team record set in August 2005 and matched last August.

Tampa Bay will try to continue that hot hitting in support of right-hander Matt Garza, who hasn't needed much help to beat Toronto. Garza (5-5, 3.61 ERA) is 3-3 with a 1.99 ERA in six starts against the Blue Jays, but is 3-0 when receiving at least one run of support.

He is also searching for consecutive wins after allowing one run over eight innings in Wednesday's 7-1 victory against visiting Philadelphia.

In earning his first win since May 16, Garza snapped a streak of three straight losing decisions but might have also gained confidence.

"I got back to what I've been talking about, being aggressive," Garza said. "I got back to who I was, and that's throwing the heater and saying: 'Hey, beat me at this.'"

The Blue Jays (41-37) will look to right-hander Scott Richmond (6-4, 3.68) to help them avoid a fourth straight loss. Richmond is searching for his third win in as many starts after yielding two runs over seven innings in an 8-2 victory against visiting Cincinnati on Wednesday.

His only loss in his last four appearances came June 20 at Washington when he allowed a two-run homer in the 12th inning. Richmond lost his only career start against the Rays July 30 in Toronto.

With a second-inning double, Scott Rolen extended his career-high hitting streak to 17 games, but while he has batted .429 during his run to move up to second in the AL at .332, the Blue Jays have hit .203 in dropping four of their last five.