• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Jackson gets first win in two years as Rays stop Dodgers

Jun 24, 2007 - 10:21 PM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- For the second consecutive day, the Los Angeles Dodgers were done in by a former teammate against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Edwin Jackson won for the first time in nearly two years as the Devil Rays rallied for a 9-4 victory Sunday over the Dodgers.

The Dodgers' loss was their 23rd in their last 27 road interleague games.

Jackson (1-8) struggled early but the Dodgers, who stranded 15 runners in Saturday's loss, couldn't capitalize. Jackson went six innings, allowing nine hits - seven in the first three innings - in winning for the first time since September 26, 2005 when he was with the Dodgers.

"There was a lot of fun, a lot of competitiveness and talking between the lines," Jackson said. "I think everybody I know got a hit off me, but I also got them out."

Since his last win, Jackson, who entered with the American League's highest ERA (7.85), was 0-8 in 35 appearances and 13 starts.

"I'm going to enjoy the win, but I can't get too comfortable," Jackson said. "To get a win it takes a combination of a lot of things. It was a team effort."

Pitching on three days' rest, Hong-Chih Kuo (1-3) struck out eight and allowed only four hits for the Dodgers, but left with one out in the sixth. Ty Wigginton greeted reliever Rudy Seanez with a single to left field, scoring Brendan Harris from second giving Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead.

Luis Gonzalez's throw beat Harris to the plate, but his slide knocked the ball out of catcher Mike Lieberthal's glove. Wigginton advanced to third on Lieberthal's error and scored on Seanez's wild pitch making it 4-2.

"Kuo kept us in there," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "He got us into the sixth. It was a step forward for Kuo."

Tampa Bay added five in the seventh, including an RBI single from Harris, a two-run Carl Crawford double and an RBI single by Delmon Young.

"We did a lot of things right today," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "It's the subtle things that make a huge difference. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we just want to do the right things every game."

Gonzalez, a native of Tampa who hit the first home run in Tropicana Field history in 1998 when he was with Detroit, added another stadium first. In the first inning, his two-run home run was the first to land in the club's stingray tank in right-center field, spotting the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

"I got two firsts in this building," Gonzalez said. "That's pretty cool. At least I didn't kill a Devil Ray out there."

Gonzalez's home run was his 335th as a left fielder, moving past Ralph Kiner on the all-time list into third behind only Barry Bonds and Ted Williams.

"It's good to turn the page on these American League games and get back out West," Little said.

The Devil Rays rallied from the 2-0 deficit, pulling even on Wigginton's second inning solo home run and Young's fourth inning RBI single.

The Dodgers, who didn't score Saturday after loading the bases on three occassions, also wasted several scoring opportunities Sunday. In the first six innings, they hit into three double plays and had two runners thrown out stealing by former Dodger Dioner Navarro.

In Tampa Bay's 4-3 win Saturday, Navarro had the game-winning home run against his former team. Sunday Navarro was one of five Devil Rays with two hits each.

"I was looking forward to this series the whole season," Navarro said. "The losing has been kind of hard on Jackson. He never got a break, today he did.

"Hopefully this is a breakthrough and he keeps pitching well and gets more wins."