ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Call it a banner night for a bullpen day.
This must have been how the Rays brass envisioned it when devising its three- and four-man pitching rotations: Get a couple of quality opening innings out of a bullpen guy, bring in a longer reliever, get to the back of the bullpen. Voila.
Or in Friday's case, victory.
Buoyed by rookie Ryan Yarbrough's five spotless innings, the Rays (14-16) began a five-game homestand with a 6-2 victory against Toronto (18-15) before an announced Tropicana Field audience of 11,117.
Yarbrough, who has logged time in Boston, Durham and now St. Petersburg in the past seven days, allowed a single to lead off the third, then retired 15 Blue Jays in a row before giving way to Sergio Romo.
Meantime, the offense collected 10 hits, highlighted by Brad Miller's two-out, two-run home run to deep center field in the bottom of the eighth. Matt Duffy and Johnny Field each had three hits.
Friday's starter per se, right-hander Andrew Kittredge, allowed a leadoff double to 37-year-old Curtis Granderson, who later scored on two deep fly balls, in an otherwise serviceable 36-pitch, two-inning stint.
Enter Yarbrough, who whizzed right past serviceable en route to sparkling. He previously had worked four solid relief innings last weekend in Boston before being sent back to Triple-A Durham to open a roster spot for a fresher arm.
He was recalled on Tuesday when Yonny Chirinos hurt his right elbow.
Field tied the score in the bottom of the third with a two-out solo home run to left off veteran lefty J.A. Happ. An inning later, C.J. Cron led off with a walk and Duffy singled before Wilson Ramos' opposite-field hit to right, giving the Rays a 2-1 lead and extending Ramos' hit streak to 12 games.
Denard Span's fielder's-choice grounder to short later scored Duffy, giving the Rays a 3-1 lead.
Yarbrough did the heavy lifting from there.
