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Blue Jays-Rays Preview

Jun 7, 2010 - 7:34 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Toronto (33-25) at Tampa Bay (37-20), 7:10 p.m. EDT

The Tampa Bay Rays have struggled at home. A matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays could help them solve that problem.

Opening a stretch of 19 of 31 at home, the AL East-leading Rays begin a three-game series against the Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

A 9-5 victory over Texas on Sunday helped Tampa Bay (37-20) avoid getting swept away from Tropicana Field for the first time this season and improved its road record to a major league-best 22-8.

The Rays, though, have dropped five of seven at home, where they're 15-12. They now get to face Toronto (33-25), which has lost 19 of 23 at Tampa.

The division foes meet for the second time this month after the Rays won two of three at Rogers Centre in a series that ended with Wednesday's 7-3 victory.

Tampa Bay scored four ninth-inning runs off closer Kevin Gregg and won 7-6 last Tuesday. That rally saved Jeff Niemann (5-0, 2.79 ERA), who will open this series, from his first loss after he gave up a season-high five runs and nine hits over 6 1-3 innings.

"(The Blue Jays) have a quality team," Niemann told MLB.com. "It's not really a surprise they're playing as well as they are. That lineup over there, it's a good lineup, and they're getting some good pitching."

Backed by 18 of the team's major league-best 97 homers, Blue Jays starters had a 1.61 ERA and held opponents to a .203 batting average on a 6-3 homestand that ended with Sunday's 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees.

Brian Tallet (1-1, 4.63) will try to continue that stretch of strong pitching, opposing Niemann for the second time in a week. In his first start since April 17 due to a strained forearm, the left-hander struck out four and allowed four hits in 5 2-3 scoreless innings Tuesday.

Tallet is 0-1 with a 7.97 ERA in four starts against Tampa Bay.

He will face a Rays club that may have found a spark at the top of its lineup. After becoming the first catcher in team history to bat leadoff in Saturday's 6-1 loss to Texas, John Jaso batted first on Sunday as the designated hitter, homering with a career-high five RBIs.

Jaso is 4 for 12 with a homer and five RBIs against Toronto this season.

"The only time I haven't seen a good at-bat out of him is when an umpire will call a pitch he thought was a ball a strike," manager Joe Maddon told the Rays' official website. "And all of a sudden, he expands his zone and there goes a good at-bat. Otherwise, this guy, at-bat per at-bat, works it as good as anybody we have on our team right now."

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston would like to get the same production from DH Adam Lind, who went 0 for 14 with six strikeouts in his last four games and is batting a career-low .210. Lind, however, is 6 for 14 against Niemann, hitting a two-run homer in a 9-3 loss at Tampa on April 24.