Crawford, Devil Rays end Blue Jays' win streak

Devil Rays 6, Blue Jays 2

TORONTO (AP) -- Tampa Bay's relievers quickly bounced back from Tuesday night's collapse.

Carl Crawford drove in four runs and the Devil Rays' bullpen came through with scoreless relief in a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night.

One game after four Tampa Bay relievers combined to give up six runs in the ninth inning of a 12-11 defeat, they got the job done in ending Toronto's three-game winning streak.

"Some nights you're the windshield and some nights you're the bug," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Last night we were the bug. You just have to be able to wipe it clean and come back the next night. That's relief pitching. You're not going to be perfect every night. I don't expect perfection, but I do like the idea that they're able to rebound the next night and we did."

Brian Stokes, Shawn Camp, Casey Fossum and Gary Glover teamed up to pitch four shutout innings. The bullpen allowed just two groundball singles, both off Stokes in the seventh.

"Even though it was my third day in a row, I wanted to get back out there," Fossum said.

The solid performance restored confidence throughout Tampa Bay's clubhouse.

"Last night was a devastating loss," Crawford said. "To come back and respond, have a good game and get the win is good for us. Hopefully we can get some momentum going."

Tampa Bay didn't have to use closer Al Reyes, who was unavailable Tuesday because he had pitched the previous three days.

"Last night, without Al there, we experimented with some stuff and it didn't work really well," Maddon said. "Tonight was more like it."

Scott Kazmir (4-3) got the win, going the first five innings. He gave up six hits, including a two-run double by Aaron Hill, and walked five.

"He's just so close to really taking off," Maddon said. "It's just going to be one appearance that all of a sudden everything clicks."

Tomo Ohka (2-5) allowed five runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start of the season.

Tampa Bay could have scored more against Ohka but stranded five runners in the second and third innings. Brendan Harris had three hits for the Devil Rays.

A pair of Blue Jays made successful major-league debuts. Curtis Thigpen singled on the first pitch he saw and reliever Jordan De Jong struck out the side in the ninth.

"I was definitely excited," De Jong said. "It's all kind of a blur. I just wanted to get in there and get out as fast as I could."

Jorge Cantu hit an RBI single in the second that put Tampa Bay ahead 1-0. Harris opened the third with a double and scored on Crawford's single.

After Hill tied it with his double in the third, the Devil Rays chased Ohka in the fourth.

Dioner Navarro, B.J. Upton and Harris singled, and Brian Tallet relieved. Crawford greeted him with a three-run double.

Upton and Harris hit doubles in the eighth off Casey Janssen.

Kazmir got himself out of trouble in the second, inducing Alex Rios to ground into a 1-2-3 double play after Toronto loaded the bases with one out.

"I really was struggling that inning and to get that double play, that was huge for us," Kazmir said.

Toronto put runners at first and second with one out in the seventh but Camp struck out Hill and then Fossum got pinch-hitter Matt Stairs to ground out.

"We had our opportunities, we had our chances," said Toronto's Vernon Wells. "We just didn't get the job done when we needed to."

Game notes
Tampa Bay's Elijah Dukes, who is in an 0-for-17 slump, got the night off. ... Toronto has had three three-game winning streaks this season but has yet to win four straight. ... Blue Jays relievers have pitched 11 1/3 innings the past two games.