Athletics 2 - 5 Rays
Final
  for this game

Rays use homers to down A's

May 23, 2015 - 5:57 AM St. Petersburg, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Evan Longoria belted a three-run homer to help the Tampa Bay Rays in a 5-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.

Steven Souza Jr. and Tim Beckham padded the Rays lead with a solo homers in the win.

Chris Archer (5-4) struck out eight and allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings for Tampa Bay, which has won two straight and four of its last five.

"(Archer) threw the ball really well," Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

The Athletics, who dropped the opener of this four-game set 3-0 on Thursday, have lost four straight and 14 of their last 16.

Scott Kazmir (2-3) suffered the loss after going 5 2/3 innings and yielding three runs -- two earned -- on eight hits and three walks.

"I feel like we are out there positive," Kazmir said. "Just going out there and fighting and that's all you can do when you are struggling like we are."

Stephen Vogt opened the scoring in the fourth with his 10th homer of the season to give the A's a 1-0 lead.

Tampa Bay then put up three in the fifth. Brandon Guyer singled to left to begin the frame and Souza reached on an error by Max Muncy at first on a sacrifice bunt. Longoria followed with a blast to left center for a 3-1 lead.

Souza went deep in the seventh inning to make it 4-1. Kevin Jepsen then stranded a runner on third in the eighth and Beckham knocked his fifth homer of season with a deep drive to left center in the home half.

Ernesto Frieri came on in the ninth and allowed a sacrifice fly off the bat of Billy Butler. Brad Boxberger entered and recorded a strikeout for his 13th save of the season.

Game Notes

Kazmir has not recorded a victory since April 13 ... Oakland holds the worst record in the league at 14-30 ... Beckham had a triple in the fourth inning






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