(My Sportsbook) - Josh Towers takes the hill for the first time since ripping his team and coaching staff when the Toronto Blue Jays play the rubber match of their three-game series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.

Towers was tagged with the loss on Friday against the Chicago White Sox, as he surrendered four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, dropping him to 5-7 on the season, while raising his earned run average to 5.08.

After the game, though, Towers complained that he was taken out too early, then went on to say that the coaching staff does not put the team in position to win and that some players don't consistently show up sometimes.

Apparently, everything was settled following a players-only meeting the next day.

Towers, who was almost shipped to Philadelphia at Tuesday's trade deadline, beat Tampa earlier in the year and is 8-5 lifetime against the Devil Rays in 19 games, 16 of which have been starts. His 19 games and eight wins are the most against any opponent for him.

Tampa Bay will counter with right-hander Jason Hammel, who is 1-1 with a 5.33 ERA. Hammel was tagged with the loss in just his second start of the season on Friday against Boston, despite allowing just two runs and one hit in 5 1/3 innings of a 7-1 loss.

Hammel has never faced the Blue Jays.

In the middle contest of this set on Tuesday, former Devil Rays bat boy Jesse Litsch pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings, as Toronto blanked Tampa Bay, 2-0. Vernon Wells hit an RBI double and scored a run for the Blue Jays, who have won two of three and seven of their last 10.

Litsch (4-4), a Tampa Bay native, scattered seven hits to notch his third win in his last four starts.

Scott Downs pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings and Jeremy Accardo worked around trouble in the ninth to record his 18th save of the season.

Delmon Young collected three hits for the Devil Rays, who lost for the ninth time in their last 11 games. Tampa Bay, which has finished in last place in all but one of its first nine seasons, has lost 26 of 33 since June 25.

Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson (2-11) was the hard-luck loser after giving up just one unearned run on five hits through six innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked one.

Toronto has won six of its 11 matchups with the Devil Rays this season, but have lost three of four and four of the last six meetings. The Jays have also won in 15 of their last 23 visits to St. Petersburg.