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Rays take aim at series win over Jays

May 5, 2011 - 2:22 PM (Sports Network) - The Tampa Bay Rays have a good chance at recording a series win over the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon, when David Price puts his unblemished mark against the Jays on the line at Tropicana Field.

Price is a perfect 7-0 with a 2.30 earned run average in eight career starts against Toronto and beat the AL East rivals back on April 23 in a 6-4 victory at Rogers Centre. The young left-hander was reached for four runs and four hits in eight innings, but got more than enough run support.

"Hopefully I can go out there and give us a good outing," Price said of his upcoming start versus the Blue Jays.

Tampa's left-hander had won three straight starts before losing to the Angels in last Friday's 8-5 setback. He lasted a season-low 4 1/3 innings and allowed five runs and 12 hits. Price's rotation mate Jeff Niemann had a rough outing in last night's 3-2 loss in the middle test of this series because of back tightness, as he permitted three runs and six hits in four innings.

Sam Fuld and Matt Joyce both drove in runs for Tampa Bay, which has alternated wins and losses over the past six contests. Rays center fielder B.J. Upton, who homered to win Tuesday's series opener, was ejected in the ninth after arguing a called third strike.

The Blue Jays have played well on this 10-game road swing, going 5-4 so far on the trek, and ended a three-game losing streak with Wednesday's triumph.

Adam Lind went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer and David Cooper also drove in a run for the Blue Jays, who got a solid outing from starting pitcher Brandon Morrow. Morrow gave up five hits and walked four batters over 6 1/3 innings, but limited the Rays to one run and struck out seven.

"I thought he had his most consistent velocity from start to finish," Jays manager John Farrell said of Morrow on the club's website. "With all the left- handers coming in that lineup I thought he did a good job of using his breaking ball to both sides of the plate."

Toronto will head north of the border for a six-game homestand versus Detroit and Boston after Thursday's game in St. Petersburg, FL. Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista has missed the last two games with neck spasms and could return to the lineup in the opener of a four-game set with Detroit on Friday.

Kyle Drabek draws the start for Toronto this afternoon and he's 2-1 with a 4.45 earned run average in six starts. He lost his first game of the season in Saturday's 5-4 decision at Yankee Stadium and was hit for five runs and seven hits in only 2 1/3 innings of work.

"He just wasn't sharp," Farrell said after that loss. "He struggled with his command out there. The difference was really the walks. I'm sure he had some frustrations out there with his command."

Drabek, a right-hander, was 2-0 with a 3.30 ERA in his first five starts -- all Toronto wins -- before taking the hill in the Bronx. Drabek has never faced the Rays in his young career and is getting the start tonight because Ricky Romero was scratched with a left oblique sprain. Romero is expected to start on Saturday with the Tigers in town.

Tampa Bay took two of three contests from Toronto at Rogers Centre from April 22-24 and has won six of the last nine meetings in this series.