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Since the beginning of the 2008 season, they had won just three of 18 road games against the Rays, and dropped eight of nine games at Tropicana Field last season. Factor in the wave the Rays were riding — they had won 10 of their last 11 — and starting pitcher Matt Garza (1.70 career ERA against Toronto) and things looked even more grim for the Jays.

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The Rays trailed 5-0 after four innings and 6-1 heading into the sixth before scoring four unanswered runs.

“That’s what’s so annoying about these guys. They never go away,” said second baseman Aaron Hill, who went 1-for-4 with a home run. “Their club just battles, all nine innings. They’re never out of it so you always have to try to get the runs when you can . . . because they’re always going to be there in the end.”

The other was starting pitcher Brett Cecil, summoned from Las Vegas after forearm soreness sidelined Brian Tallet.

Sporting a pair of Oakley shades beneath the brim of his cap Cecil dominated the second-place Rays, striking out seven batters through five innings while allowing just two hits.

The players at extended spring training range from rehabbing big leaguers to raw rookies preparing for their first minor league seasons, but from a distance it’s tough to tell them apart.

Roughly 50 of them worked out at the Jays’ training complex Friday, nearly all wearing black shorts and gray T-shirts with neither a name nor a number to distinguish them.

Even so, Adeiny Hechavarria stands out. He’s the guy with the softest hands on the field, the smoothest swing at the plate and the most self-assured strut everywhere else.

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“Here in Dunedin there’s one more Cuban fighting to lift Cuba’s name high,” said Hechavarria, who signed a four-year, $10 million deal with the Jays on April 13. “One more Cuban going to the big leagues to show that Cuban baseball has quality.”Like many Cubans playing in the U.S., Hechavarria still is bound to Cuba by the people he left behind.

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He’ll soon join the Class-A Dunedin Blue Jays before the club decides where he’ll spend the bulk of the season.

Neither the club nor Hechavarria has a timeline for his arrival in Toronto.

“I don’t have a date. (What happens on) the field will decide my date,” he said. “I’m only thinking about giving my best on the field, and the field will decide.” When Hechavarria left Cuba in 2009 he was the country’s top young shortstop, a prospect on par with Red Sox shortstop-of-the-future Jose Iglesias, who had defected a year earlier.

And the biggest on-field question surrounding Hechavarria concerns his bat. He hit .262 in his final season in Cuba’s national series, a league where roughly 80 players hit .300 or better last season. Hechavarria is aware of the challenge big league pitching will present, but is confident he’ll solve the problem.

“Every day you have to find a way to improve,” he said. “And until I feel good (about my batting) I’ll find a way to get a little better every day.”

Brett Cecil pitched into the seventh inning in his first appearance of the season, Alex Gonzalez had two RBIs during a four-run first and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 on Friday night.

Cecil (1-0), recalled from triple-A Las Vegas to replace the injured Brian Tallet (left forearm tightness), gave up four runs, six hits, one walk and struck out eight in 6 2-3 innings. The left-hander departed after allowing Gabe Kapler's two-run homer in the seventh that got Tampa Bay within 6-4.

Vernon Wells hit an RBI double, Gonzalez drove in two with a single and Jose Bautista added a run-scoring double as the Blue Jays took a 4-0 lead in the first. Toronto has won six straight road games, which equals the Blue Jays' best stretch since a six-game run in Sept. 2003.

The Jays stunned Matt Garza, Tampa Bay's top starter, with a four-run first inning. They finished with six extra-base hits to extend their total to 73, tops in the majors.

Jose Bautista collected three doubles, one of which drove in the final run with two outs in the first. Bautista is batting .304 since manager Cito Gaston dropped him out of the leadoff spot a week ago.

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The Jays squandered several scoring chances and struck out 12 times. They stranded three runners in the second and had two on with one out in the eighth but failed to score.

Garza entered the game with an ERA of 0.75, but saw that stat rise to 2.16 by the end of the Jays' bat-around first inning. After averaging 14 pitches per inning in his first three starts, he need 41 to record the first three outs.

"That's awesome. Anytime you get a 4-0 lead, it definitely takes a lot of pressure off," Cecil said.

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"Cecil pitched a great ballgame for us," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "He gave up four runs, but he stopped that offense over there. He just went out and did his thing."

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"Coming into this year, I've had good success against these guys," Garza said. "Tonight they just came out a little bit hungrier than I did. They just had a mission on their faces. You score five runs in game, you should win. I didn't do my job."

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Tampa Bay catcher Dioner Navarro was ejected in the sixth by plate umpire Dan Bellino for arguing about a pitch to Adam Lind that was called a ball. TV replays appeared to show the call was correct and that Navarro may have bumped into Bellino.

"I kind of lost my composure," Navarro said. "I can't be doing that, arguing balls and strikes. They're good (the umpires), they're doing a great job. But it was just that moment I lost it."

Left-hander Brian Tallet has gone on the disabled list with soreness in his left forearm.

We wish him well and all that, but could never understand the decision to have him open the season in the starting rotation.

In three starts, Tallet is 1-1 with a 6.11 ERA and has been torched for a team-high six home runs. But that’s not the problem.

If this season is supposed to be about rebuilding or retooling or re-whatever-you-want-to-call it, just why was the 32-year-old Tallet, a reliever most of his major-league career, plunked into one of the coveted five starting spots in the first place?

Tallet moved into the rotation last year by default due to the neverending number of injuries to the starting staff. He wanted to remain a starter and due to the loyalty of manager Cito Gaston, he stayed there.

Now he is being replaced by lefty Brett Cecil and the case could be made that Cecil, who missed some time in spring training due to a cut on his thumb, out-pitched Tallet down the stretch in Florida.

Unless Cecil is a bust, when Tallet is ready to return it should be back to the bullpen.


Right-hander Jesse Litsch is on the mend and is expected to be ready for big-league duty in a month’s time.

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The knock against [Snider] last year was that he became so mixed up that he eventually couldn’t get around on fastballs. If you can’t hit a fastball, that’s it.

On Wednesday, Snider was so late on Royals pitcher Zack Greinke’s 96-m.p.h. heater that it was frightening. He looks just as lost as he was a year ago when they sent him down to Las Vegas.

with Aaron Hill back in the line-up, Alex Gonzalez moved down to the six-hole, apparently to take advantage of his hot bat. The bat’s not hot anymore, but the move paid off tonight as Gonzalez delivered a huge two-run single in the first inning and added an infield single in the 7th. A few people have wondered what the Jays should do with Gonzalez when he cools off, and the short answer is - he has. He had a massive first week, hitting .346/.346/.923, but over the last 11 games (including tonight), Gonzalez has hit .261/.306/.408. I guess that’s strong by Blue Jays’ standards. though, and it still warrants hitting him ahead of John Buck.

AJ Burnett's tattooed arm - what the ****?