Devil Rays 6, Blue Jays 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Rey Sanchez hit his first conventional home run in over two years, and Dewon Brazelton threw five shutout innings to lead the Tampa Bay Devil Rays past the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2.

Sanchez’s second homer of the season – a three-run shot – came during a five-run, fourth inning that gave the Devil Rays a 5-0 lead. It Sanchez’s 15th career homer in his 4,684th at-bat, and the first homer he hit into the stands since April 30, 2002, at Boston.

He went 745 at-bats before hitting an inside-the-park, walk-off homer June 11 in an 8-7, 10-inning win over Colorado.

Brazelton (2-0) gave up five hits, two walks and struck out two in his first start since taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning of his previous start, a 2-0 win over Florida last Friday.

Jose Cruz Jr. also homered for the Devil Rays (38-37), who went back over the .500 mark. Tampa Bay became the first major league team last Saturday to climb above .500 at any point in the season after being 18 games below .500.

This the latest in a season Tampa Bay has been above .500. The Devil Rays are a major league-best 28-9 since May 20.

Eric Hinske ruined the shutout bid with a two-run double with two outs in the ninth off Trever Miller, who replaced Lance Carter. Carter was forced to leave after taking Reed Johnson’s hard liner off his left leg.

The Devil Rays scored five times against Josh Towers (2-3) in the fourth. Robert Fick had a run-scoring groundout and Toby Hall hit an RBI single before Sanchez made it 5-0 with his three-run shot to center.

Cruz gave the Devil Rays a 6-0 lead with a solo homer off Towers in the fifth. It was just his second hit – both homers – in 21 at-bats.

The Blue Jays had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, but failed to score. Brazelton retired Johnson on foul popup and then struck out Hinske.

Towers allowed six runs and 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings. He gave up two runs and 11 hits over 14 innings in his previous two starts.

Notes: Blue Jays 1B Carlos Delgado (ribs) made a rehabilitation start for Class A Dunedin on Wednesday. He has been sidelined since May 30. … Brazelton hasn’t allowed a homer in 26 1-3 innings this season. … The Blue Jays were looking to win consecutive road games for just the third time this year. … Cruz is 8-for-12 with three homers against Towers.

AP-ES-06-30-04 2146EDT