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Blue Jays seek series sweep of struggling Devil Rays

May 13, 2007 - 12:55 PM Tampa Bay (14-22) at Toronto (15-21) 1:07 pm EDT

TORONTO (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have provided the tonic for the Toronto Blue Jays.

After losing nine consecutive games, the Blue Jays have rebounded with back-to-back wins against the Devils Rays and will go for the weekend sweep here on Sunday.

The Devil Rays have lost six straight and dropped into their all-too-familiar position of last place in the American League East.

Shaun Marcum (1-2, 6.06 ERA) makes his first start of the season fro Toronto. he has appeared in 13 games out of the bullpen, but was moved into the starting rotation when Victor Zambrano was placed on the disabled list.

The righthander started 14 games for the Blue Jays last season, but he has not thrown more than 2 1/3 innings in any appearance this year.

Tampa Bay counters with Jae Seo (1-3, 8.82) who had few quality starts this season. In three of his seven starts, Seo has failed to pitch more than three innings, including his last outing on Sunday when the Baltimore Orioles reached the righthander for five runs in three innings.

The Devil Rays lead the American League with 43 home runs, including seven from B.J. Upton, who leads the team with .348 batting average and 72 total bases.

Toronto's Frank Thomas hit his fifth home run of the season and 492nd of his career in Saturday's victory. He is eight homers away from becoming the 21st player in major league history to reach the 500-home run plateau. His next home run will tie him with Fred McGriff and Lou Gehrig for 21st all-time.