ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Evan Longoria singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning Wednesday, allowing the Tampa Bay Rays to pull out a 2-1 victory over Toronto.

Rafael Soriano escaped a ninth-inning jam, helping keep the Rays within a game of the first-place New York Yankees in the American League East. Tampa Bay took two out of three in the series.

John Buck hit a homer for Toronto in the fifth and Sean Rodriguez had one for the Rays in the bottom half of the inning. The game remained tied until the Rays squeezed out a run off reliever Shawn Camp (4-3) in the eighth.

Ben Zobrist reached on a one-out walk and moved to second on a single by Carl Crawford. Longoria followed with the base hit to left that scored Zobrist. Brad Hawpe eventually struck out to end the inning, leaving the bases loaded.

David Price (16-6) worked eight innings to get the win, giving up four hits and striking out seven. He had already set a team record for most victories in a season.

Soriano collected his 40th save despite giving up a one-out triple to Vernon Wells in the ninth. Adam Lind struck out and Buck ended the game with a fly ball to left that was caught on the warning track.