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Pena propels streaking Rays past Royals

Jul 5, 2008 - 12:51 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Following the Tampa Bay Rays' emotional three-game sweep of the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox, there was some concern the Rays might suffer a letdown.

Instead they stepped on the gas as Carlos Pena homered and drove in five runs and Edwin Jackson pitched eight strong innings to pace the Rays to an 11-2 triumph over the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

Jackson (5-6) allowed two runs and four hits while striking out two for Tampa Bay, which won its fifth game in a row and ninth in its last 10 contests.

Carl Crawford had three hits and rookie Evan Longoria recorded his second three-hit performance in as many days for the Rays, who improved to 30-6 in their last 36 home games.

Tampa Bay, which finished 21 games below .500 last season, moved 21 games above .500 this season with the triumph. Owners of the best record in the majors, the Rays (53-32) maintained a three-game lead over the Red Sox in the American League East.

"Before the game, the guys had a great way about them in the locker room, it was business-like," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "We came out with a good first inning, had good at-bats and kept piling up runs."

Tampa Bay's first five hitters - Akinora Iwamura, Crawford, B.J. Upton, Pena and Longoria - combined to go 10-for-21 with nine RBI.

"The top of the order really kicked in," Maddon said. "Everyone contributed tonight."

The Rays took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on sacrifice flies by Upton and Cliff Floyd and Pena's RBI single. Pena added a third-inning sacrifice fly before hitting a three-run homer to center field in the fifth to give Tampa Bay a 7-0 advantage.

"The offense was great tonight," Jackson said. "Getting three runs in the first gives a starting pitcher a big boost. I was just throwing strikes. That's what was working."

That was more than enough cushion for Jackson, who faced the minimum number of batters through six innings and allowed just a leadoff single by David DeJesus.

"One of his biggest improvements is that he's using all of his pitches," catcher Dioner Navarro said. "He's getting more and more comfortable."

Brian Bannister (7-8) was not as efficient. He allowed seven runs and eight hits in five innings while walking one and striking out six.

"I felt like I made a lot of good pitches today, but they're swinging the bats like a confident team," Bannister said. "A team that's got the best record in baseball came out and jumped on me early."

Mark Grudzielanek belted a solo home run in the seventh inning for Kansas City, which lost for the fifth time in its last seven games.

"I wish there was something I could blame it on, but we backed out," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "Bannister didn't pitch well, didn't locate well. We didn't have a lot of life and didn't have a lot of good at bats."