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Rays-Blue Jays Preview

Aug 26, 2009 - 5:02 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Tampa Bay (68-56) at Toronto (57-66), 7:07 p.m. EDT

Carlos Pena's hot hitting may make it a easier for the Tampa Bay Rays to continuer their offensive surge, even if they don't have Carl Crawford in the lineup.

Pena and the surging Rays look to complete their first three-game sweep at Toronto in six years Wednesday night.

Tampa Bay (69-56) kept pace with the AL wild card-leading Red Sox on Tuesday, beating Toronto 7-3 for its eighth win in 10 games. The Rays are three games behind Boston.

Tampa Bay's recent run can be credited to an impressive display at the plate. The Rays have scored 57 runs over their last 10 games and are hitting .347 in this series with the Blue Jays (57-67). On Tuesday, Jason Bartlett had three hits and Pena homered twice, giving him 200 for his career.

Pena has 37 home runs this season, six in the last five games. He's driven in 14 runs in his past six contests, batting .474 over that stretch.

"He's seeing the ball amazing," James Shields, Tuesday's winning pitcher, said. "Those two balls he hit were no-doubters. I'm really happy for him right now."

Another big night by Pena helped the Rays get by without Crawford, who is also unlikely to play Wednesday because of a sore lower back. Crawford, second on Tampa Bay with a .316 batting average, left Monday's game after three innings. He's hitting .174 with one RBI in his last six games, but manager Joe Maddon told the Rays' official Web site the injury isn't serious.

"I can understand from Carl's perspective never having had (a back problem) before, it's kind of concerning," Maddon said. "But at this point, medically, we feel OK about it."

Maddon's team is 11-3 against the Blue Jays this season, including 6-2 in Toronto. The Rays haven't swept a three-game series at Rogers Centre since July 29-31, 2003.

Tampa Bay will hand the ball to Scott Kazmir (8-7, 6.17 ERA), who is trying to win his third straight start. He gave up three runs in 7 1-3 innings of a 5-3 win over Texas on Friday, taking a shutout into the eighth inning.

Kazmir has won four of his last five starts, posting a 4.94 ERA in that span after he went 0-3 with a 7.50 ERA in his previous seven outings.

The left-hander is 4-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 13 starts against the Blue Jays, going 1-0 with a 7.11 ERA in two this season.

Toronto, which has dropped eight of 10, is trying to get its pitching staff on track. The rotation has a 6.41 ERA over the last 10 games, with Roy Halladay giving up eight runs Monday and Brett Cecil allowing six Tuesday.

The Blue Jays will turn to Marc Rzepczynski (2-3, 3.65), who has a 1.46 ERA over his last two starts.

The left-hander recorded his first win in six outings Friday, allowing one run and three hits in 6 1-3 innings of a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. He did not receive a decision against the Rays in his previous outing despite limiting them to one run over six innings in a 5-2 loss.

The 23-year-old rookie has a 1.50 ERA but no record in two starts against Tampa Bay.