ST. PETERSBURG (620 WDAE) -- One day after a slugfest at Tropicana Field, Chris Archer and Aaron Sanchez battled in a pitchers duel that nine innings couldn't decide. It was a bases loaded walk by Casey Lawrence to Brad Miller in the bottom of the 11th inning that provided Tampa Bay with a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Saturday.
Archer retired the first 12 Toronto hitters in a row before Kendrys Morales singled to right to break up any thought of a perfect game
Sanchez retired the first seven hitters before Mallex Smith reached on an infield single.
The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, as Derek Norris singled off Sanchez and took second on a walk to Mallex Smith, who reached base in all five of his plate appearances Saturday. Tim Beckham grounded into a fielder's choice, erasing Smith, but Corey Dickerson picked up his teammate with a single to center that plated Norris to open the scoring.
Archer, who had not walked a batter through the first six innings, walked both Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista to start the seventh, and it came back to bite him as Troy Tulowitzki's base hit would eventually bring in Donaldson to tie the game.
The right-hander also walked Russell Martin to start the eighth, and was close to wiggling out of the jam caused when Justin Smoak singled Martin to third. He induced a pop fly from Kevin Millar and struck out Devon Travis, but Donaldson singled back through the middle and broke the tie.
Toronto went to the bullpen for the bottom of the eighth, and the Rays capitalized against Joe Biagini. Evan Longoria singled with one out, and Miller drew a walk, allowing Steven Souza Jr. to single home the tying run.
Alex Colome worked a scoreless ninth, and Xavier Cedeno and Erasmo Ramirez combied to allow just a single baserunner in the extra frames.
Toronto escaped the ninth after Tampa Bay got the winning run in Smith to third base on Biagini, and survived having runners and second and third in the tenth with de facto closer Jason Grilli, but with Lawrence making his major league debut in the 11th, they could not hang on. Smith started the inning with a double, the only extra-base hit of the evening, and Lawrence intentionally walked both Dickerson and Kevin Kiermaier to load the bases. Longoria struck out, but Miller worked the count full and took a pitch inside to end the game.
The win clinches a winning homestand for Tampa Bay, who did not have a winning homestand in 2016 until August 7.
The Rays can finish the series with a victory by taking Sunday afternoon's finale. Jake Odorizzi (0-1, 6.00 ERA) will get the start, taking on Marco Estrada (0-0, 3.00 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10, with coverage on WDAE starting Sunday morning at 11:00 with The Inside Pitch presented by Sykes Lakeland.