TAMPA BAY - Brandon Morrow pitched seven scoreless innings and the Toronto Blue Jays further dampened Tampa Bay's playoff hopes, beating David Price and the Rays 5-1 Friday night.
The Rays have lost four of five and dropped 2 1-2 games behind Boston in the AL wild-card race. The Red Sox were rained out at New York.
Tampa Bay has only five games remaining -- two against Toronto and three against the Yankees, who have already clinched the AL East title.
A night after pounding out 17 hits in a 15-8 road romp at Yankee Stadium, the Rays were limited to Matt Joyce's second-inning infield single until Casey Kotchman singled with one out in the seventh off Morrow (11-11).
Morrow allowed two hits, walked four and struck out nine as Toronto played spoiler for the second straight night. Edwin Encarnacion's 12th-inning walk-off homer at home beat Los Angeles 4-3, dropping the Angels three games behind Boston in the wild-card race.
Kelly Johnson homered and drove in two runs for the Blue Jays. He led off the sixth with a home run that drew a smattering of boos from a crowd of just 18,093 at half-filled Tropicana Field.
Johnson had a RBI single in the third and a solo homer in the sixth, both off Price (12-13). Eric Thames had a RBI single in the fifth.
Joel Carreno and Luis Perez each pitched an inning to finish a combined three-hitter for Toronto. The Rays didn't get a runner past second base until the ninth, when Johnny Damon walked and wound up scoring from third on Joyce's two-out single.
The Blue Jays scored three runs in the third, two on Price's second throwing error of the inning. The all-star lefty came off the mound to field Thames' high chopper with the bases loaded but his throw to the plate for a forceout sailed and skipped off the glove of leaping catcher Kelly Shoppach.
Toronto made it 3-0 on Johnson's two-out, broken-bat single, but wound up costing themselves a run on the play when Jose Bautista overran second base and was thrown out by centre-fielder B.J. Upton -- an instant before Thames crossed the plate for what would have been a fourth run in the inning.
The way the Rays were swinging the bats, it didn't matter.
Price five runs -- two earned -- and five hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Notes: Rays manager Joe Maddon said reliever Kyle Farnsworth, who hasn't pitched since Sept. 10 because of a sore right elbow, is available for the Toronto series. ... Upton was ejected in the eighth inning, when he was thrown out trying to steal second base and argued the call with 2B umpire Ed Hickox. ... Blue Jays 1B Adam Lind left the team Friday to fly home to Toronto for the birth of his child. ... Toronto LHP Ricky Romero (15-10), Saturday's scheduled starter, is 8-2 with a 2.84 earned-run average in 13 starts since the All-Star break. ... Blue Jays manager John Farrell said it's unlikely that INF Yunel Escobar (left elbow) will play again this season if he can't take batting practice on Sunday. ... Former supermodel Cheryl Tiegs threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
