Swaggering Romero shuts down Rays

Protecting a 2-0 lead against the Tampa Bay Rays, Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero walked second baseman Ben Zobrist to load the bases with one out in the seventh inning. Sensing a game-changing moment, veteran catcher Rod Barajas walked to the mound to reassure the rookie pitcher that the situation wasn't as dire as it seemed, and that Romero could escape the inning unscathed if he could make the right pitches to Pat Burrell, who was digging in at home plate. After the game, Barajas said the focus in Romero's eyes and the confidence he exuded on the mound even as three Rays waited on base showed him the 24-year-old left-hander didn't need much pumping up, and Romero quickly delivered the double-play ball that ended the Rays' inning. In the eighth, it happened again when Marco Scutaro fumbled a double-play relay from Aaron Hill to put two Rays on with none out. Romero said the play didn't rattle him. Instead, he said he focused on bailing out his teammate, which happened when pinch-hitter Willy Aybar lined to Scutaro, who doubled off the lead runner. "He's got that swagger," Barajas said of Romero. "He's going to go out there and he's going to compete and he's going to give you a chance to win." One out later, Romero had completed the most impressive outing of an outstanding rookie season, striking out seven Rays in a 5-0 Jays win. Romero left the game after the eighth inning, preserving a shutout streak that now spans three starts and 20 innings. Jason Frasor pitched the ninth, depriving Romero of his first career complete game, but Romero won't complain as long as he and the team are winning. "(A complete game) is your goal every time you go out there," said Romero, who missed most of May with a strained oblique muscle. "(But) I'll ride this little thing I've got going as long as I can." Yesterday's win came at a key time for the Jays . Last week, the Rays overtook them for third place in the ultra-competitive American League East, then won two games at the Rogers Centre this week. Another loss would have placed the Jays four games behind the Rays heading into a July schedule that sees them visit the second-place Yankees and the Rays, and host the division-leading Red Sox. Heading into yesterday, the Jays had totalled only two runs in two games against the Rays, but got home runs from Barajas, Scott Rolen and Adam Lind to avoid the sweep. Looking to revive the team's dormant bats, manager Cito Gaston shuffled the starting lineup, moving Lind to third in the batting order, bumping Alex Rios down to seventh and playing Vernon Wells only in the ninth. Still, yesterday's main storyline was Romero's pitching line: eight innings, no runs, four hits, four walks and seven strikeouts against the highest-scoring offence in Baseball. He also became the only Jays pitcher to shut down B.J. Upton and Carl Crawford. Upton, the Rays' leadoff hitter, scored in each of the series' first two games, while Crawford went 4-for-8 with two home runs and three RBIs batting behind him. But yesterday they went a combined 1-for-6 with three strikeouts. When Upton walked in the first, Romero quickly picked him off, then struck out Crawford. Gaston said performances like that have established Romero as the team's No. 2 starter behind Roy Halladay. "He's starting to grow more confident in himself," Gaston said. "He's growing every time he goes out there. This kid's got a chance to be a great pitcher for us."