ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Vernon Wells and Carlos Delgado hit back-to-back homers in the top of the seventh inning as the Toronto Blue Jays held on for a 6-5 triumph over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays .

Wells had three hits and leads the American League with 195. He is trying to become the first Blue Jay to lead the league in hits since Paul Molitor in 1993. In this one, he delivered the biggest hit of the game - his 31st homer of the season.

Wells recorded his 18th three-hit game of the year and homered for the first time since hitting a two-run shot off Seattle's Gil Meche on August 20.

"Today I just got a couple of pitches, I could handle," Wells said. "We needed to win a ballgame."

One night after going hitless in five at-bats, Delgado launched his 35th homer of the year. It marked the sixth time the Blue Jays hit back-to-back homers this season and first time since Delgado and Tom Wilson did it June 26 against Baltimore.

"I just tried to slow myself down a bit," said Delgado, who hit his first homer since August 27. "The past couple of weeks, I felt like I was a little jumpy."

The big hits made a winner out of Mark Hendrickson (9-9), who settled down after a shaky start and allowed three runs - two earned - and six hits in six innings. He gave up all three runs in the first but kept the Devil Rays in check the rest of the night and won his second straight decision.

"It's good to win," Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said. "You've got to give Mark credit. He battled and got us deep in the ballgame and gave us the chance to win."

Trever Miller pitched the seventh and allowed Aubrey Huff 's two-run homer. Rookie Aquilino Lopez pitched two innings and notched his 10th save in 12 opportunities.

After Huff's 30th homer of the season, the Devil Rays put runners on first and second in the ninth. But the righthander got pinch hitter Pete Laforest to pop out to third to secure Toronto's fourth win in 14 games with Tampa Bay this season.

Tampa Bay, which has played in 81 games decided by two runs or less this season, tried to rally with one out in the ninth as Carl Crawford singled and stole second. But Lopez struck out Rocco Baldelli and, after Huff was walked intentionally, LaForest ended the game.

"We came back and had the winning on base in the ninth, but couldn't get him across," Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella said. "Anytime you lose, it doesn't seem like there's any flow to it."

Jorge Sosa (5-10), who tossed a four-hitter on Thursday against Seattle, was tagged for six runs - five earned - and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Staked to the early lead, Sosa gave up a two-run homer to Eric Hinske in the third and a game-tying double to Wells in the fifth.

Hendrickson, who had a 10.97 ERA in his previous three starts, surrendered run-scoring singles to Huff and Travis Lee that made it 2-0. Huff then scored on second baseman Orlando Hudson 's throwing error.

The lefthander overcame a season-high four errors by his teammates and escaped a base-loaded jam in the fifth by getting Lee on a groundout.

"It's good to win," Tosca said. "We kicked the ball around in the first inning and broke a lot of bats."