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Upton, Pena power Devil Rays past Athletics

Aug 26, 2007 - 10:06 PM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Moving B.J. Upton to the cleanup spot was the right decision for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Capitalizing on his new spot in the order, Upton again homered and Carlos Pena belted two home runs as the Devil Rays posted a 7-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday afternoon.

Joel Guzman also drove in two runs for the Devil Rays, who won their third consecutive game for only the second time this season. They won four in a row from May 13-17.

Tampa Bay, which is 4-0 this season with Upton in the fourth spot in the order, benefited from another blast by its young phenom, who has hit three in those four games.

"B.J.'s hitting has come so far this season," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "Right now when he hits the ball, it's as hard as anyone in the league. When he hits the ball, it has a different sound. It does. The biggest difference is he's pulling the ball with more authority."

The Devil Rays also were powered by Pena, who now has a career-high 30 homers.

"I'm so grateful," Pena said. "I'm blessed and grateful to get the opportunity to play. (The 30 home runs) is definitely meaningful to me. Never in my life would I have envisioned this. To be the guy that hits home runs and contributes."

Tampa Bay starter Andy Sonnanstine (3-9) allowed two runs and five hits in five innings while striking out seven and walking two. He snapped a five-game losing streak at home this season.

Four relievers tossed the final four frames, including Al Reyes, who hurled a scoreless ninth for his 20th save.

"As we get close to our destination of reaching the playoffs, you have to play meaningful baseball," Maddon said. "I like playing these (playoff-caliber) teams. This is meaningful baseball."

Athletics starter Dan Haren (14-5) yielded five runs in six innings. He allowed just four hits, including two home runs and a triple, and struck out a season-high 10 with no walks. The righthander lost for the first time since August 11.

"It's a frustrating loss," Haren said. "It's a team we should be able to beat. My stuff was good, I just made a few mistakes and they capitalized."

Back-to-back RBI doubles by rookie Jack Hannahan and Kurt Suzuki gave Oakland a 2-0 lead in the second. Upton cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the frame with a solo home run, his 20th of the season.

In the fifth, Tampa Bay took advantage of two errors by Oakland. Following a leadoff single by Delmon Young, Josh Wilson reached on Hannahan's throwing error at third base.

Guzman then tripled to center and scored when shortstop J.J. Furmaniak's relay throw bounced past Hannahan, allowing Guzman to score.

"That was a big knock," Maddon said. "Then the hustle to make that a triple."

Tampa Bay increased its lead to 5-2 on Pena's home run in the sixth. Oakland cut the margin to 5-4 on Jack Cust's RBI single and a solo home run by Suzuki.

In the sixth, Upton saved a run by throwing out Cust, who tried to score on a fly out to center.

Nick Swisher had three hits for Oakland, which lost three consecutive games for the first time since losing four in a row from July 27-30.

"Dan Haren threw the ball pretty well," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "We gave up three home runs today and that was the difference in the game. I felt like we were right in it until the last pitch."