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Pena drives in five runs in last two at-bats to power D-Rays

Jun 13, 2007 - 4:20 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- The dream matchup of the old guard versus the new breed lasted just six innings. Later, Carlos Pena made sure there was no doubt.

With the aid of an error, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays scored three runs in the seventh inning to take the lead before Pena provided plenty of insurance with a grand slam in an 11-4 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.

"That was a lot of fun," Pena said. "We got something going, I believe it was two outs, and it was good to ... not put the game out of reach because you never know in baseball. But it gave our staff a lot of runs to work with."

The Padres' 41-year-old starter, Greg Maddux, used 78 pitches to work through 6 1/3 innings. He yielded four runs - three earned - and six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Maddux departed after walking rookie Elijah Dukes with one out in the seventh with San Diego leading, 4-3, and in position to record his 339th victory.

"Sometimes you just know the bullpen has a much better chance finishing off the game than you do," Maddux said. "Sometimes you make good pitches and get them out and sometimes you make bad ones and get them out."

However, Japanese rookie Akinori Iwamura and Brendan Harris followed with base hits to load the bases against Cla Meredith (2-5). After Carl Crawford struck out for the second out, Greg Norton plated two runners when Adrian Gonzalez failed to field a bad-bouncing ground ball for an error and a 5-4 lead.

"We took advantage of the situation right there," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "The phrase is, 'Who likes juggs,' and then we go after them. It's a great concept. Lately we've been doing a good job at that."

Pena added an RBI double to cap the frame and highlighted a six-run eighth with the grand slam - his 14th homer of the season.

"We feed off each other, that's very important to us," Pena said. "We all have positive things to say about each other. We motivate each other, encourage each other. Hitting is contagious."

Casey Fossum (4-6), who worked a scoreless seventh, took the win.

"Casey did an excellent job today," Maddon said. "His inning was a big inning." Tampa Bay starter Scott Kazmir, who has battled high pitch counts his entire career, fought through six innings, yielding four runs and nine hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts.

Tampa Bay starter Scott Kazmir, who has battled high pitch counts his entire career, fought through six innings, yielding four runs and nine hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts.

"Today I really didn't have my change," Kazmir said. "You just want everything to happen right then and there. It's been kind of frustrating. I think every starting pitcher knows we have a chance to win, no matter how many runs we give up."

Mike Cameron had three hits for San Diego and Josh Bard and rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff chipped in two each.

"They swing the bats real well these Devil Rays," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "Joe (Maddon's) strength is his ability to communicate and teach. It was a good game. We battled, they battled."