Toronto @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 31, 2010 ) Toronto 13, Tampa Bay 5

One big inning led the Toronto Blue Jays to victory against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

They probably shouldn't count on the same thing happening in Wednesday's series finale.

David Price takes yet another shot at his 16th win of the season as the Rays and Blue Jays square off in the rubber match of their three-game set at Tropicana Field. The Rays opened the series with a 6-2 win, but were blown out 13-5 a night later.

Toronto used a 10-run sixth inning to subdue Tampa Bay on Tuesday, the team's biggest single-inning output since scoring 11 times in the sixth inning of a 13-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on July 25, 2007. Jose Bautista belted his league-best 43rd home run in Tuesday's rout, and Aaron Hill added a two-run shot.

The loss was a damaging one for the Rays, who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. The New York Yankees walloped Oakland 9-3 to take a one game lead over the Rays in the American League East standings

The Rays hope they have the right man on the mound in Price (15-6), who has struggled of late but has mesmerized the Blue Jays in his career.

The left-hander, who turned 25 last week, owns a 5-0 career mark against the Blue Jays with a 2.09 ERA over 38 2/3 innings. He has faced Toronto three times this season and won every game, limiting the Jays' explosive lineup to a single earned run in 23 innings of work.

Toronto has hit a major league-best 201 home runs this season, but none have come against Price, who has surrendered just 12 long balls in 164 2/3 innings.

A meeting with the Jays arrives at just the right time for Price, who is winless in his last three outings. He took the loss in his last appearance, charged with three runs on 10 hits over seven innings in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Boston Red Sox.

Price will need to be wary of the red-hot Bautista, who led the majors in home runs at the All-Star break and has lapped the field since. The 29-year-old is hitting. 329 with 19 home runs and 47 RBIs in 43 games since the break, and he now sits just four homers shy of equaling George Bell's single-season team record set in 1987.

Bautista finished with 12 home runs in August, giving him three different months with 10 or more homers so far this season. Add the 10 he hit in September and October last season, and Bautista has belted 53 home runs in his last 161 games.

Toronto sends Shaun Marcum (11-7) to the mound in the series finale. The 28-year-old has just one win in his last five starts following a three-game winning streak that coincided with his return from the 15-day disabled list.

Marcum was solid in his last outing, allowing one run over six innings. He wasn't around for the decision as the Jays went on to beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2.

Marcum is 2-2 with a 3.22 ERA for his career against the Rays, with 33 strikeouts in 36 1/3 innings. Both of those losses came in back-to-back starts in early June, when he was touched up for 12 runs and 20 hits in 12 1/3 combined innings.

Wednesday's game will decide the season series, which is tied at seven wins apiece.