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Crawford, streaking Rays set franchise mark

May 11, 2008 - 9:50 PM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- For the past two days, the Tampa Bay Rays pitchers have carried the club with consecutive shutouts.

On Sunday, the Rays hitters did their part.

Carl Crawford had a three-run home run as the red-hot Rays won their franchise-record ninth consecutive home game with an 8-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Crawford, B.J. Upton and Akinori Iwamura each had three of Tampa Bay's 15 hits while Cliff Floyd added two RBI. The Rays (21-16) moved five games over .500 for the first time in their 11-year history.

"That's just the beginning hopefully," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "We feel pretty good about ourselves right now. I believe we're capable of playing this way consistently."

With the Rays trailing, 5-4, Crawford, who also stole two bases, belted a three-run shot to right field in the sixth off Justin Speier (0-3). Upton followed with a double and scored after two wild pitches.

"You can just put these two losses on me," said Speier, who allowed a two-run walk-off homer to Evan Longoria in Friday's 2-0 loss. "I just haven't made my pitches like I normally could. I'm going to iron it."

J.P. Howell (2-0) pitched three scoreless innings to earn the win in relief of Andy Sonnanstine, and Troy Percival picked up his second save in as many nights against his former team. It was Percival's ninth save of the season overall.

"It's been a total team effort so far," Crawford said. "We're confident enough as a team to make us feel like it's going to happen."

Ervin Santana, who didn't allow an earned run in each of his last two starts, was roughed up for five runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. The righthander was denied his chance at becoming the first seven-game winner in the American League.

"Ervin started off a little bit slow, picked it up and actually got into a pretty good rhythm," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Tampa Bay jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on RBIs from Upton, Carlos Pena and Floyd, who returned to the lineup after missing 30 games while recovering from right knee surgery.

"You don't want to come in and be too agressive, you want the game to come to you," Floyd said. "Everybody's relaxed now, everyone feels good. Right now, everyone's having fun. It's going good."

The Angels pulled even in the third on consecutive RBI singles from Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Torii Hunter. The three runs were their first in 20 innings against the Rays, who had a pair of 2-0 shutouts on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

After Floyd's third-inning single gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead, the Angels went ahead, 5-4, in the fifth on Guerrero's RBI single and Anderson's RBI triple.

Hunter had three hits and two RBI for the Angels, who lost their fourth consecutive game.

"There is nothing the Rays did that surprised us," Scioscia said. "They're a team that has a lot of positive things happening. A lot of young talent, some good arms, and what Percy (Percival) is doing over there is remarkable."