by Steve Carney

The Tampa Bay Rays didn't reach their hotel in Toronto until nearly 5:00 Thursday morning, and it looked like it Thursday night.  The Jays got a pair of early runs off Matt Moore and made them hold up, shutting out Tampa Bay 2-0.

All the scoring came with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, as Moore walked Edwin Encarnacion.  Adam Lind singled Encarnacion up a base, and Yunel Escobar drew a walk to load the bases.  Kelly Johnson then doubled to right, bringing in Encarnacion and Lind.

Moore settled down following the first, and ended up going six innings, but took the loss to drop to 10-8 on the season.

Tampa Bay managed just five hits on the evening, all singles off Toronto starter Carlos Villanueva, who threw the first six frames.  Darren Oliver and Brad Lincoln each delivered a scoreless inning of relief, and Casey Janssen threw a scoreless ninth inning for his 18th save.

The loss drops the Rays back to 1 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the final wild card spot.

Tampa Bay will look to rebound Friday night, when Jeremy Hellickson (8-9, 3.42 ERA) takes on Brandon Morrow (7-5, 3.06 ERA).  Coverage on 620 WDAE starts at 6:30, with first pitch scheduled for 7:07.