Toronto.BlueJays.MLB.com

By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com

09/19/09 12:20 AM ET

ST. PETERSBURG -- Cito Gaston bolted from his seat on the bench and headed up the steps of the visitors' dugout at Tropicana Field. As the Blue Jays manager made his way onto the field on Friday night, he glanced down the left-field line at the bullpen and waved his hand.

Nothing out of the ordinary -- except that it was only the third inning.

Rookie Scott Richmond added another ugly chapter to his persistent woes over the past two months, sending the Blue Jays well on their way to an 11-4 loss to the Rays. After keeping Tampa Bay off the scoreboard in the first two frames, Richmond could not create another out before Gaston brought an abrupt end to his evening.

"Nobody wants to come out after two innings," a frustrated Richmond said.

Gaston undoubtedly would have preferred to have Richmond work his way through the command issues, but the manager saw nothing that led him to believe the pitcher was nearing that point. The Rays pounded out five consecutive hits against Richmond to open the third inning en route to three quick runs, erasing the 2-0 lead the Jays had established.

"I'd seen enough of that tonight, so let's get somebody else in there," Gaston said.

Things did not get much better after Richmond hit the showers, though. Gaston turned to right-hander Brian Wolfe, and the Rays continued to pour on the offense. During a 13-hitter stretch against Richmond and Wolfe between the third and fourth innings, Tampa Bay plated eight runs on nine hits with two walks to build an early 8-2 advantage.

Five runs were charged to Richmond, and the sudden implosion did not sit well with the manager.

"You score two runs, pitchers, it's very important they go out and shut them down the next inning," Gaston said. "Take the momentum away from that other side over there. He went out and gave up [five] runs. You can't do that."

Ever since returning from a stint on the disabled list at the end of July, Richmond (6-10) has struggled to control his fastball and has consistently fallen behind in counts. That was the case again on Friday, when he slipped behind against seven of the 14 hitters he faced and ended with 36 of his 63 pitches registering for strikes.

Dating back to his first outing back in the rotation -- after a bout with a right shoulder issue -- Richmond has gone 0-5 with an 8.92 ERA over eight starts. The right-hander has surrendered 38 runs across 38 1/3 innings and has allowed at least five earned runs in each of his past five performances. Five times during that stretch, Richmond also exited after five or fewer innings.

Richmond -- considered by Gaston to be the club's fifth starter -- knows his recent showing is not acceptable, especially for a pitcher who is trying to convince the Blue Jays (66-81) that he can be relied upon out of the rotation next season.

"I'm trying to make adjustments," Richmond said. "It's not like I'm sitting there going, 'Here we go again.' You know? I'm trying to do things differently and trying to figure out what the problem is. I don't know. I've said it before, I've never gone through it and I'm trying to deal with it the best way I can. I keep l looking at film, seeing what I'm doing wrong.

"I'm mentally going out there and trying to correct it. I'm getting my arm as ready as I can and doing my conditioning, doing my workouts the same. I don't try to change too many things up, but sometimes with execution, something needs to be different."

The Blue Jays, who guaranteed that they will not finish with a winning record for the first time since 2005, ran to a 1-0 lead with an RBI single from Adam Lind in the first inning. Two frames later, Vernon Wells added a doubled that plated Aaron Hill to push Toronto ahead by two runs. That lead turned out to be short-lived.

Jason Bartlett led off the third for the Rays (75-73) with a single and came around to score on a triple by Carl Crawford, igniting Tampa Bay's six-run rally. Toronto added two runs off righty James Shields (10-11) in the seventh, but it was a moot point. By then, the Rays held a 9-4 lead and increased their cushion with a two-run homer from Even Longoria in the eighth.

Before Longoria's blast, Crawford singled and promptly stole second base. Late in a lopsided contest, swiping second was a decision that probably did not sit well with Gaston -- not that he was going to call out Crawford or Rays manager Joe Maddon.

"Just let it go," Gaston said. "Hey, [Maddon] runs his team the way he wants to. I run mine the way I want to. It's as simple as that."

Crawford did not see any issue with his late-inning dash.

"No, not really," Crawford said. "I just went ahead and stole the base. I've seen worse. I didn't really think it was a big deal."

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal.

Richmond's outing was of more concern for the Jays.