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Navarro's grand slam in 13th helps Rays push past Blue Jays

Thu 8th, May 2008

Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Dioner Navarro belted a grand slam as part of a five-run 13th frame, leading Tampa Bay past Toronto, 8-3, in a lengthy extra- inning affair at Rogers Centre.

A game going on at a brisk pace came to a streaking halt in the bottom of the ninth. Troy Percival finally squandered runs, surrendering a two-run home run to Vernon Wells, and the tying run in Toronto's at-bat.

Percival had not allowed a run in 11 innings before stepping onto the mound Thursday night. He allowed a Scott Rolen single before striking out Matt Stairs. Wells then hammered a 2-0 fastball over the right-field fence to trim the Blue Jays' deficit to 3-2.

Lyle Overbay then doubled, but the game was still in Percival's right hand. Just-recalled Joe Inglett pinch-ran for Overbay, and his speed tied the game. Percival sawed off Aaron Hill, who served a low-and-away pitch over the second baseman's head into center field. B.J. Upton came up throwing, but his two- hopper was just late, allowing Inglett to slide in safely for a 3-3 game.

Toronto threatened to win in the 10th. Alex Rios drove a pitch past Upton in center and scampered to third for a triple. Shannon Stewart was called out on strikes and Rolen was intentionally walked to set up a double play. Stairs struck out before Wells was pitched around for a walk to load the bases. Dan Wheeler escaped by striking out pinch-hitter Rod Barajas.

The Rays ended the game in the 13th frame. Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura each singled and Carl Crawford drove home Bartlett with a sacrifice fly. Upton singled and Carlos Pena was intentionally walked. One out later, Navarro capped the explosion with a grand slam to right-center.

J.P. Howell (1-0) got the victory after throwing three scoreless innings of relief, while Shawn Camp (0-1) was saddled with the loss after pitching the 13th and allowing all five runs.

"I pitched behind almost every hitter I faced," Camp said.

Edwin Jackson pitched an eight-inning gem for the Rays, allowing just six hits with three strikeouts and no walks. His counterpart Jesse Litsch surrendered three runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts over seven frames.

"We had a nice lead going into the ninth, unfortunately, it didn't hold up," Navarro said.

The Rays went in front with a pair of runs in the fifth. Navarro singled with two outs and Gabe Gross followed with a two-run shot out to right. Tampa Bay added an insurance tally in the seventh on Pena's lead-off home run, his eighth of the season.

Game Notes

Toronto placed shortstops David Eckstein (strained right hip flexor) and John McDonald (sprained right ankle) on the 15-day disabled list Thursday. Both players were injured in a loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday with the DL stints made retroactive to Wednesday. The club called up the infielder Inglett from Triple-A Syracuse to take one of the roster spots...The game took four hours, four minutes...Attendance was 21,118.