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Saturday, May 13 4:15pm ET
Escobar benefits from Jays' 4-HR attack | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Kelvim Escobar figured the Toronto Blue Jays would score some runs. All he had to do was find a way to slow down the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The right-hander did better than that, allowing just one hit after giving up a pair of early homers in an 8-4 victory Saturday that featured yet another dazzling display of power by the Blue Jays. Raul Mondesi, Tony Batista, Alex Gonzalez and Brad Fullmer all homered, the eighth time Toronto has hit at least four in a game. The Blue Jays have homered in 32 of 38 games, including 12 in a row for the second time this season. The club record is 14. "I made a couple of mistakes and I paid for it. I told myself, 'It's only the second inning. I know we can score some runs," Escobar (4-4) said. "After the first two innings, everything was working very good. I just concentrated and kept the ball down, and you could see how it was successful." Mondesi went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and, like Batista and Gonzalez, homered off Dwight Gooden to help the Blue Jays rally twice in the first three innings. Mondesi's RBI single off Cory Lidle (0-1) snapped a 4-4 tie in the sixth, and Fullmer followed with a three-run homer off Mark Guthrie to finish a four-run inning. Escobar allowed Fred McGriff's 395th career homer, a three-run shot in the first, and Bubba Trammell's solo homer for a 4-3 Devil Rays lead in the second before settling down. "When you make a mistake with guys like Fred McGriff, 15 years around the league, you pay for it," said Escobar, who was 1-2 with a 10.59 ERA in four starts against Tampa Bay last season. "I don't think the pitch to Trammell was too bad, but I got behind in the count." The right-hander allowed three hits, walked three and struck out two in seven innings. He retired the last 10 batters he faced before being replaced by Paul Quantrill in the eighth. Pedro Borbon got the last out in the eighth and Billy Koch pitched the ninth to finish the five-hitter. Batista hit his 11th homer in the second off Gooden. Three batters later, Gonzalez's two-run shot wiped out the lead Tampa Bay took on McGriff's fifth homer. Mondesi's 10th made it 4-4. It was the seventh four-homer game of the season for the Blue Jays, who have hit a AL-leading 72. They also hit five once. Gooden allowed four runs on five hits in 2 1/3 innings, his shortest outing since lasting just 1/3 of an inning for Cleveland vs. Kansas City last June 27. Since winning his first two decisions for the Devil Rays, he is 0-2 in three starts and has yielded 14 runs, 18 hits and seven homers in 12 2/3 innings. "I think the thing that's most frustrating is my command and location's been terrible the last couple of games," Gooden said. "I felt great warming up. The first inning I felt OK, then after that just made a lot of mistakes. I'm making way too many mistakes right now." Gooden was yanked after giving up Mondesi's homer and walking the next two. Darrin Fletcher was walked intentionally to load the bases with two outs, but Lidle got out of the jam by striking out Marty Cordova. Toronto also wasted a good opportunity in the fourth when they loaded the bases again, only to have Lidle survive the threat by getting Fullmer to fly to left to leave the Blue Jays 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Tampa Bay wasn't as fortunate in the sixth. Homer Bush doubled off Lidle with two outs and Mondesi's RBI single put Toronto ahead 5-4. Guthrie, obtained Friday in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, replaced Lidle and gave up a single to Carlos Delgado before Fullmer's seventh homer gave the Blue Jays a four-run lead. "That was a little bit of a nightmare. I'll try to come back tomorrow and get over it," Guthrie said. "It is not the first time I have been the goat. Things will get better." Escobar walked two ahead of McGriff's homer and fell behind 4-3 when Trammell hit his fourth homer into the left field stands. But Tampa Bay only had two baserunners over the next five innings, with McGriff reaching on a two-out walk in the third and Trammell singling with two outs in the fourth. Game notesMcGriff's 14-game hitting streak matches the longest of his career, set in 1991 with the Atlanta Braves. ... Gonzalez homered for the second straight game. ... Fletcher's second-inning single extended his hitting streak to nine games for Toronto. ... Mondesi's first-inning double was the 200th of his career. ... Fullmer's homer off Guthrie was his first off a left-hander. ... Delgado's hit off Guthrie gave him a 10-game hitting streak. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Toronto Clubhouse Tampa Bay Clubhouse RECAPS Cleveland 7 Kansas City 6
Toronto 8
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