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Pena, Sonnanstine help Devil Rays rout Yankees

Sep 1, 2007 - 4:31 AM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- The New York Yankees were riding high after strong efforts from their top three starters. They fell with a thud behind their top rookie hurler.

Carlos Pena homered twice and Andy Sonnanstine tossed eight superb innings as the streaking Tampa Bay Devil Rays rolled to a 9-1 triumph over the Yankees on Friday.

New York (75-60) entered the contest five games behind Boston (80-54) in the American League East Division after completing a three-game sweep of the first-place Red Sox on Thursday. The Yankees posted the victories behind solid efforts from Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens and Chien-Ming Wang.

However, 21-year-old Philip Hughes was unable to continue the momentum against Tampa Bay, which has won four straight games and seven of its last eight. The righthander lasted just 4 1/3 innings, surrendering five runs - four earned - seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts.

"A lot of bad counts," Hughes said. "If it was one specific thing, I can work on it. But one night it's home runs and one night it's walks. Tonight, it was a mix of everything."

The performance was the third in a row in which Hughes (2-3) has allowed five runs.

"There's no question that there was a letdown," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

The Yankees remained five games behind the Red Sox, who dropped a 9-8 decision to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. They also maintained their one-game lead in the AL wild card race over the Seattle Mariners (73-60), who fell to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Akinori Iwamura was a major thorn in the side of Hughes, reaching safely to start both the first and third innings and scoring in both frames. The Japanese third baseman did the same in the eighth as the Devil Rays built an 8-1 advantage.

Pena belted solo shots in the fifth and sixth innings en route to his 10th career multi-homer game and second this season. He also launched a pair of homers against Oakland on Sunday.

"Just come out and play the game and keep it as simple as possible," said Pena, whose 33 homers this season is one shy of the franchise mark shared by Jose Canseco and Aubrey Huff. "Good things happen when you do that."

Carl Crawford, Delmon Young and Greg Norton each recorded two RBI and Pena also scored three runs for Tampa Bay.

The support was more than enough for Sonnanstine (4-9), who limited the Yankees to an unearned run and a pair of singles in a career-high eight innings. The 24-year-old righthander struck out five without a walk, retiring the final 13 batters he faced.

"Honestly, that's probably the best start of my life," Sonnanstine said. "It's something that I'll never forget."

"Sonny just pounded the strike zone with his fastball," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "When he stays aggressive and primarily uses his fastball, he normally has a pretty good night."

Sonnanstine credited his success to his ability to stay ahead in the count.

"Anytime you can keep that lineup in a pitcher's count, you're really setting yourself up to have success," he said.

"He was hitting his spots," New York's Johnny Damon admitted. "When a pitcher is doing that and has some runs to back him up, he did exactly what he needed to do."

Grant Balfour capped the victory with a scoreless ninth for Tampa Bay, which improved to 4-1 on its seven-game road trip.

Alex Rodriguez plated New York's lone run with a single in the fourth.

Iwamura led off the game with a double and scored on Carl Crawford's single. In the third, Iwamura drew a leadoff walk and crossed the plate four batters later on a sacrifice fly by Young.

On the play, Yankees second baseman committed an error, allowing Pena to score and give the Devil Rays a 3-0 bulge.

Pena opened the fifth with a homer to right field and Norton added an RBI single later in the frame for a 5-1 advantage. Pena's second blast of the night an inning later opened a five-run cushion before Tampa Bay added three over the final two frames, including a solo homer by Norton in the ninth.

"Everybody uses the word 'spoiler,' which is wonderful," Maddon said. "But for me, this is our opportunity to get to understand what it feels like when games count."

Crawford went 2-for-5, giving him 50 hits in the month of August - a new franchise record.

The Devil Rays concluded August with a 15-14 record, just the eighth winning month in club history and first since June 2006, when they went 13-12.