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Young's walk-off homer leads Devil Rays to first sweep

May 18, 2007 - 5:51 AM ORLANDO, Florida (Ticker) -- Rookie Delmon Young doubled up to help the Tampa Bay Devil Rays continue their magic in Orlando.

Young hit a walk-off homer in the 10th - his second of the game - and drove in five runs as the Devil Rays posted an 8-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on Thursday to complete their first three-game sweep of the season.

After Carlos Pena grounded out to start the inning, Brendan Harris drew a walk against Willie Eyre (1-2), setting the stage for Young.

Young, who recorded the first two-homer game of his career, finished off a stellar series in which he hit .500 (6-for-12) with eight RBI by blasting a 2-2 pitch just over the wall in right field for his sixth home run of the season.

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon was happy to see Young go to the opposite field.

"Primarily, he is hitting the ball to right field again," Maddon said. "He's working to get batter at-bats and see more pitches. I think those are the two main things."

Prior to this contest, he had not homered since April 25 and was just 2-for-23 coming into this series.

"I just fixed my swing," Young said. "It just feels a lot better. I haven't been trying to hit the ball the other way, I've just fixed my swing."

His first blast - a three-run shot in the fourth off Texas starter Kameron Loe - provided a 5-3 lead.

Gary Glover (1-2) pitched a scoreless 10th to pick up the win for the Devil Rays, who got four scoreless innings from the their bullpen and have won all three games played at the Walt Disney Wide World of Sports complex.

"When we came over here originally, driving over I was concerned and wondering how this was going to be," Maddon said. "As soon as I got out there and saw the facility and the fans, there was a buzz about the place. I had a good vibe about this. We played well, the fans were great and the atmosphere setting, the whole thing worked."

Carl Crawford had two hits and an RBI for the Devil Rays, who have won a season-high four straight games for the first time since May 18-21 of last season.

"It makes the clubhouse a bit easier to come to every day," Young said of their recent success. "After the road trip where we were losing every game, it just didn't feel right coming in there."

Mark Teixeira went 2-for-2 with three walks and three RBI for the Rangers, who were just 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position and have lost eight of their last 10.

"I thought we played a (heck) of a game," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "They busted their butts out there I feel for these guys out there. We had opportunities, we just didn't cash in on them."

Texas scored two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to wipe out a 6-3 deficit. The Rangers took advantage of a pair of errors to score twice in the second.

With one out, rookie Kevin Mahar - who later doubled off Scott Kazmir for his first major league hit - reached on an error by third baseman Josh Wilson. Matt Kata, who was playing for starting third baseman Hank Blalock (shoulder), also reached on an error by Harris at shortstop.

One out later, Teixeira followed with a two-run single up the middle to pull Texas within one run.

Texas tied the game at 6-6 when Victor Diaz led off the seventh by hitting a first-pitch slider from reliever Chad Orvella over the left field wall.

Meanwhile, Young's first homer bailed out Kazmir, who displayed brilliance as well as youth in four shaky innings. The 23-year-old lefthander struck out nine but walked a career-high six. He allowed three runs - one earned - and four hits in four innings and left with a 5-3 lead.

Holding a 2-0 lead, Kazmir walked three in the fourth and allowed the Rangers to take a 3-2 lead despite getting only one hit - an RBI single from Mahar. Kazmir departed after just four innings and 109 pitches.