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Rays look for rare consecutive road wins

Jul 26, 2008 - 10:12 AM Tampa Bay (60-42) at Kansas City (46-58) 7:10 p.m. EDT

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Tampa Bay Rays will be looking to win back-to-back games on the road for the first time this month when they visit the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

The Rays snapped a seven-game road losing streak Friday with a 5-3 win. Tampa Bay has not won back-to-back road games since June 26-27 during interleague play.

They have not won back-to-back road games against American League teams since June 6-7 at Texas.

On Friday, Edwin Jackson and four relievers combined to allow four hits and Carlos Pena provided the winning margin with a two-run homer.

"Yes, It's so nice to get a road victory," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "Sleeping in a hotel is kind of difficult anyway. After a victory, it's much easier to sleep in a foreign bed. If we want to get to the promised land, we gotta win on the road. We can't let games get away. We've got to do a better job, and I would say the pitching got that done for us tonight."

Tampa Bay will send ace Scott Kazmir (8-5, 2.80 ERA) to the mound on Saturday. The All-Star lefthander is coming off one of his best starts against Oakland on Monday in which he allowed two hits and walked four while striking out nine in seven scoreless frames.

The Royals have always been a tough test for Kazmir, who owns a 1-2 record with a 5.90 ERA in five career starts against them.

Kansas City will counter with righthander Luke Hochevar (6-8, 5.47). The rookie has been up and down of late, allowing seven runs at Tampa Bay on July 6, holding the Mariners to one run on July 11 and getting touched for seven runs against the Tigers on Monday.