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TORONTO (AP) – Jose Cruz Jr. homered in the bottom of the 10th inning and the Toronto Blue Jays sent the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to their seventh straight loss, 3-2 Tuesday night. "A walk-off homer is a very gratifying experience," Cruz said. "The only thing I could imagine that would feel better would be a homer in October or late September." Tanyon Sturtze (0-1) pitched two hitless innings before Cruz connected with one out for his third home run of the season. "He left a fastball up, and I just swung at it," Cruz said. "It happened real fast, so I guess all that batting practice, and the muscle building that you do all day, and in the off-season, paid off today." Tony Batista also homered for the Blue Jays, who lead AL with 16. Toronto won for the sixth time in seven games and improved to 4-1 against Tampa Bay this season. "I could have picked up the team, and got us going, but that bad pitch leaves a sour taste in everyone's mouth," Sturtze said. Fred McGriff hit a tying homer in the ninth for Tampa Bay, which continued the worst start in franchise history at 1-7. The Rays have scored just nine runs in their last six games. "We won't struggle forever. We just have to return it ten-fold," Tampa Bay's Russ Johnson said. "Right now we're like a dog that is down. When you get a dog down, you kick it. When you're being kicked, you don't like it." Toronto's Chris Carpenter, who pitched eight shutout innings against Tampa Bay last week, allowed one run over seven in a no-decision. Kelvim Escobar pitched a hitless eighth, but closer Billy Koch gave up a first-pitch homer to McGriff in the ninth. "I said to Carpenter, 'sorry dude, that's going to happen,' " Koch said. "As much as you don't want that to happen, sometimes it does." Paul Quantrill (2-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win. After Batista homered off Tampa Bay starter Bryan Rekar in the second inning, Darrin Fletcher singled, Jeff Frye walked and Shannon Stewart hit a two-out, RBI double. Rekar allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings. Carpenter retired eight straight before Johnson led off the sixth with a homer. Game notesCruz hit his third career extra-inning home run. ... Koch has allowed a team-high two homers. ... Since defeating Toronto in the season opener, the Devil Rays have been outscored 53-17. ... Johnson's homer ended Carpenter's 13-inning scoreless streak against Tampa Bay. ... McGriff's 418th career homer moved him past Cal Ripken into 28th on the all-time list.  Send this story to a friend
| RECAPS Boston 10 Baltimore 1
Toronto 3
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