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Crawford, Young lead Devil Rays past White Sox

May 27, 2007 - 11:33 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton made sure the Tampa Bay Devil Rays didn't waste a gutsy effort from their ace on Sunday.

Crawford drove in a pair of runs and Upton had four hits and an RBI as the Devil Rays notched an 11-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

Kazmir (3-2) pitched seven solid innings, surrendering four runs and eight hits in seven innings to earn the win. On a day when he did not have his best stuff, Tampa Bay 's 23-year-old ace threw 107 pitches, striking out seven and working out of jams in the first and sixth.

"As the game got deeper, (Kazmir) got better," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "I like the way he battled through today. He's keeping us in every game he pitches. He's not as sharp as he can be yet, and I'm really looking forward to that moment."

"It's real fun watching him pitch, and I think he's going to be Cy Young (winner) one day," Upton said. "This guy just comes out and continues to throw good games for us, and he keeps us in the game."

Crawford's triple in the seventh plated the go-ahead run and chased White Sox starter Javier Vazquez, and rookie Delmon Young and Upton each plated runs in the eighth to put the game away.

"We swung the bats well, kept poking at it and just got a bunch of hits," Crawford said. "That's the way we've always been. We try to come back and win the game anyway possible."

"We had a lot of opportunities to score runs, but we didn't take advantage," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "We have to make better pitches and keep the ball on the ground."

Kazmir had struggled with his command recently, throwing 109 pitches and walking six in just four innings on May 17 and following it with a five-inning, 96-pitch effort on Tuesday.

"I just have to focus on what I have to do," Kazmir said. "I have to go as deep as I can in the ball games."

Vazquez (2-3) has not recorded a win since April 13 at Cleveland and has allowed 14 earned runs over his past three starts.

"I was so-so today," Vazquez said. "I lost, so (today) was not a good outing. I threw some good pitches, but we lost the game, and that's the bottom line."

The Devil Rays got on the board in the second, when Ty Wigginton hit a solo blast into the seats in left field. Vazquez ran into trouble in the third when he yielded singles to Brendan Harris and Upton, bringing the All-Star Crawford to the plate with runners on first and second with one out. Crawford doubled to deep center, plating Harris to make the advantage 2-0.

The White Sox wasted little time jumping on top in the home half of the third. After Rob Mackowiak drew a one-out walk, Tadihito Iguchi singled to right, bringing up the middle of the order. Jim Thome fouled out, but Jermaine Dye singled to bring in Mackowiak and Paul Konerko followed with a double to right, tying the score at 2-2.

Chicago took the lead when the next batter, Joe Crede, singled to right-center field to bring in Dye and Konerko for a 4-2 lead. Tampa Bay fought back in the sixth, tying the score on Carlos Pena's 10th homer of the season. The Devil Rays had lost six of their last seven games coming into Sunday's contest.

"It was a nice day offensively," Maddon said. "We had good at-bats up and down the lineup. Carlos' opposite-field home run was huge. It really brought a lot of life back into the dugout. Good at-bats against a good pitcher, and that's what I really like to see."