• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Blue Jays-Rays Preview

Apr 24, 2010 - 3:55 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Toronto (9-7) at Tampa Bay (12-4), 6:10 p.m. EDT

The Toronto Blue Jays are playing so well on the road, they've even managed to find a way to win at Tropicana Field.

The Blue Jays try for a seventh straight road victory when they continue their weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night.

Toronto (10-7) snapped a five-game losing streak at Tampa with a 6-5 win in Friday's series opener. The Blue Jays, who went 1-8 at Tropicana Field in 2009, are averaging 5.0 runs while going 6-1 away from home.

They haven't won seven in a row on the road since Aug. 18-24, 1996.

Jose Bautista had three hits, Vernon Wells added two and Aaron Hill homered in his first game off the disabled list Friday for Toronto, which held off the Rays (12-5) and bounced back from a 4-6 homestand.

"It's a team win. It was a tough win," manager Cito Gaston said. "They (Tampa Bay) just keep coming at you."

Wells drove in his 13th run and raised his average to .344. He's batting .318 in his last 11 games at Tropicana Field.

While Toronto has excelled on the road, Tampa Bay is 3-4 at home and couldn't build on a 9-1 trip Friday.

Evan Longoria and Willy Aybar each had two hits as the Rays were able to rally from a five-run deficit but dropped their third straight at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay went 109-53 at its domed stadium the past two seasons.

Despite his team's early struggles at home, Longoria is batting .360 there. He's hitting .382 in his last nine games at home against the Blue Jays.

After offense highlighted the opener of the series, both teams might find runs hard to come by with Toronto's Ricky Romero and Tampa Bay's Jeff Niemann facing off in a matchup of two of the AL's top young pitchers.

A 13-game winner as a rookie in 2009, Romero (1-1, 1.57 ERA) allowed one hit over eight innings in a 4-2 win over Chicago on April 13 before notching a third straight strong outing his last time out.

The left-hander gave up one run and struck out six in eight innings but lost 3-1 to Los Angeles on Sunday.

"He's just got that kind of stuff where every time he goes out there you feel like he has a chance to throw (a no-hitter)," Romero's teammate Shaun Marcum told the Blue Jays' official website.

Romero went 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA against Tampa Bay last season.

Niemann (1-0, 2.93), coming off a 13-6 rookie season, picked up his first win after giving up two runs in seven innings of an 8-2 victory at Boston on Monday.

The right-hander was 2-1 with a 4.87 ERA against the Blue Jays in 2009.