Saturday night was one of those rare moments in baseball - Roy Halladay lost his temper.

The normally even-keeled Toronto Blue Jays ace was angered by a bad call on a ball that was obviously foul in a strange sixth inning and, before he was able to pull himself back together, offered up a pitch that cost him the game.

All-star rookie Evan Longoria hit his first career grand slam on that mistake, capping a five-run sixth and sending the Tampa Bay Rays to a 6-4 victory over the Jays.

Longoria's slam came off a fully frustrated Halladay, who had watched a bad bounce, a bunt, the dribbler that should have been called foul and a Texas Leaguer that just dropped into the outfield create a 1-0 lead for the Rays.

That was when the excellent Tampa rookie, who played in this week's all-star game at Yankee Stadium, put the only mistake Halladay (11-7) made all day over the left field wall to make it 5-0.

He had been struggling lately, going 3-for-23 coming in.

"Definitely one of my more prouder at-bats," said Longoria, who fouled two balls off his left ankle during the plate appearance that ended with the home run.

"He's a tough pitcher. He was just making pitches. It was all I could do with them until he finally threw the one over the plate I could handle."

Cliff Floyd added a homer in the eighth off reliever Brandon League.

Tampa starter Matt Garza went to 8-5 with an outstanding 7 2/3 innings of three-hit shutout ball.

Toronto came up with four runs off three relievers in the ninth inning before Scott Rolen popped out to end the game.

The Rays improved to 57-39, first in the American League East. Toronto, losing the first two of the three-game weekend series, fell to 47-50.

No luck for Halladay

After Halladay had cruised through the first five innings on just one hit, he gave up four to open the sixth that, distance wise, wouldn't have added up to a double into the gap.

Ben Zobrist started it by bouncing one over a leaping Scott Rolen at third. Akinori Iwamura followed, beating out a bunt by, oh, a millimetre.

Then Carl Crawford hit that dribbler down the first base line that hit a pebble and, as the replay clearly showed, turned just foul. But that's not how plate umpire Mike DiMuro saw it.

Halladay argued, manager Cito Gaston argued, all to no avail, and the bases were loaded with none out.

Carlos Pena then hit a looper that just made it to the outfield to score the first run.

All of that was supremely unlucky. But Longoria earned his shot, blasting a high one over the left field wall for his first career grand slam in a memorable first season.

Two batters later, Dioner Navarro bunted down the third base line for no play. That got Halladay upset, feeling the hitter was rubbing it in, and it would become key a few innings later.

Halladay leaves, anger stays

The Toronto starter left after six and Jesse Carlson came out to pitch.

After a walk, pitching coach Brad Arnsberg arrived at the mound to talk to Carlson but he waited for umpire DiMuro to come out and break it up. That was when Arnsberg gave the arbiter a piece of his mind and was tossed.

Brandon League came on for the Jays in the eighth and he was taken downtown by Floyd to make it 6-0. A batter later, up came Navarro again and the Toronto right-hander hit him on the butt with a pitch.

DiMuro ejected him.

Toronto's offence came up with just four hits on Friday night and were even worse for most of this one.

Garza gave up a single to Rolen in the third and then retired the next 11 he faced until Marco Scutaro's base hit opening the seventh. After a double by Rod Barajas and two outs in the eighth, the Rays starter left to a standing ovation.

That should have been the end of it all, but relievers Trever Miller, Al Reyes (just back off the disabled list and he had nothing) and Dan Wheeler gave up four runs in the ninth on an error, a double by Joe Inglett, a single by Scutaro, a ground-rule double by Matt Stairs and a base hit from Lyle Overbay.

But Wheeler finally ended it by getting Rolen, who was the potential tying run.

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