Butler sparks Rays with hustle on wacky relay

ST. PETERSBURG -- At first, it looked as if Logan Forsythe's flyout to deep right-center field in the fifth inning Tuesday night would be a routine play, but just as Kevin Pillar ran into the wall after making the catch, the wackiness ensued.

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With rookie Joey Butler at second base and Evan Longoria on first, Pillar turned back toward the infield and prepared to make a throw, but the ball fell from his glove. As Butler tagged up and headed for third, Pillar fired an errant throw over his cutoff man, second baseman Ryan Goins. Goins got a glove on it but could not haul it in, allowing Butler to score the third run in the Rays' 4-3 victory over the Blue Jays at Tropicana Field.

"I was kind of in between on that play, and he was deep enough to where I had time to go back and tag," Butler said. "I tried to get to third fast enough because [third-base coach] Charlie [Montoyo] was waving me to start with, and I didn't know what was going on because I wasn't watching.

"Then I got to third and saw the ball was overthrown, and I just kept going."

Rays manager Kevin Cash immediately came out of the dugout to give his staff some time to see whether or not Pillar had made the catch at the wall, but Forsythe already knew the answer.

"That was a great play," Forsythe said. "I thought it was a catch all the way. I think he had trouble on the transfer. I didn't even see the replay, but that's what it looked like to me."

Video: TOR@TB: Butler singles in a run to right-center

The hustle play to come around and score came two at-bats after Butler delivered an RBI single to break a deadlocked game for a 2-1 lead.

"It was a fun inning," Butler said. "It was exciting, but the most important thing is that we're playing hard and having fun."