Rays 6, Blue Jays 5: I wanna get out of the Great White North

Short-ish recap tonight, boys. Not everything can be a 3000 word short story. Plus the roller coaster ride of today's kept most of my attention and stopped me from doing anything else really interesting, except periodically checking on the Bucs. Who, by the way, are winning at the moment 7-0! What a game! Looks like everything is gonna turn out okay in Tampa Bay, and there will be no change in scoring from here on out.

• Boy oh boy, Chris Archer looked pretty good today. Well, in a way. I mean, most of the time, when you allow three walks in a game it doesn't always go your way, but credit where credit is due. The Classic Archer Meltdown Inning (TM) was all ready to occur in the third, when he allowed a hit and two walks to load the bases against a team that, unlike the Rays know how to score with a runner on third. This time though, Adam Lind flew out to Kevin (Fancy Feet) Kiermaier, and that was most of the damage for Archer today. Plus in the fifth he struck out the side, which was nice.
• As has been the norm of late, the Rays we able to strike first. Sean Rod doubled to lead off the inning and was pushed to third by Hanigan. KK grounded out to score him, and was quickly followed by a Zobrist smash to left. Any further scoring opportunity that inning was squashed, however, when Guyer was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. The Rays called for a review but the play was upheld.

• More runs in the fourth: Longoria led off the inning with a single, which was followed by a Wil Myers double. Logan Forsythe grounded out to score Longo from third, and Ryan Hanigan singled Wil Myers home to put the Rays up 4-0
• Not much doing for a while after that. Archer was more or less shut down until the seventh, when he allowed a home run to Edwin Encarnacion. He would leave the game after allowing 3 hits and 3 walks, but picking up 9 strikeouts.
• And here we go: after picking up another jug run on a Yunel Escobar home run, Grant Balfour came in and allowed three consecutive hits, the last of which was an Adam Lind home run. The Rays now maintain a tenuous 5-4 lead, but with your "closer" in for the ninth, it's fine, right?
• On a 1-2 count with 2 outs, McGee allows a veritable wall-scraper to John Mayberry. John Mayberry. Dear God.
• Despite all that negativity, extra innings went well for the Rays. Myers, Forsythe, and Escobar all reached base with no outs, and even though we've all read this script before and know what happens here, the Rays were determined to surprise us all. Sean Rod quickly put the team ahead with a sac fly, putting the game out of reach after Gomes and Beliveau came in and closed it out. Rays win, 6-5

All in all, despite the tone of the recap, the Rays did win, and they leave Toronto (a team technically contending for a wild card spot) with a series win. The bullpen once again showed that they can never be trusted, but luckily the offense bailed them out. Tomorrow's game will be at Tropicana Field, and Alex Colome will start.