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Homers spark Rays past Angels

Aug 19, 2008 - 3:29 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- For at least one night, the Tampa Bay Rays' home dominance was better than the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim's road success.

Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd each hit two-run homers and the Rays held off the Angels, 6-4, on Monday night in a matchup of teams with the best home and away records in the majors.

The Rays, who maintained their 4-1/2-game lead over the Boston Red Sox in the American League East, improved to 19-7 this season against first-place teams.

The Rays also improved the major league's best home record to 46-17, including 41-10 in their last 51. The Angels fell to 39-24 away from home.

"I saw us playing a typical Rays game tonight," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "It was the same approach to the game. The only way we can embarrass ourselves is by lack of effort."

Willie Aybar, who has been starting at third in place of injured All-Star Evan Longoria, was 3-for-4 and scored two runs.

"We were able to piece it together tonight and we did a great job," Maddon said.

Andy Sonnanstine (13-6) went 5 1/3 innings for the win as the Rays used five relievers in the final 3 2/3 innings. Dan Wheeler pitched the ninth for his sixth save, in place of closer Troy Percival, who went on the disabled with a sprained knee Friday.

"Our bullpen has a lot of confidence," Wheeler said.

Hinske and Floyd homered in the second and third innings, respectively, to spot the Rays a 5-1 cushion.

"They're a great baseball team," Floyd said. "We never really have a problem with these types of teams. We capitalized on a couple of (Jon) Garland's pitches that were up and gave (Sonnanstine) some room."

In the sixth inning, Anaheim's Garret Anderson's RBI double and Juan Rivera's sacrifice fly made it 5-3. Vladimir Guerrero's RBI single in the seventh cut the lead to 5-4.

Gabe Gross' RBI single in the eighth accounted for Tampa Bay's final run.

"They got five early runs which obviously helped Sonnanstine to pitch a little bit and get creative out there," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "This is a unique park for sure, but those guys are playing good baseball and they've been doing a lot of things right."

Sonnanstine improved to 3-0 in his last four starts, allowing three runs and five hits.

"I felt like I pounded the zone and threw strikes," Sonnanstine said. "I just wish I went deeper into the game. Everything was sharp really, except the changeup."

Garland (11-8) surrendered 10 hits and four earned runs in six innings. He suffered only his third loss in 11 road starts.

"Two bad pitches, that is what it came down to," Garland said. "Two pitches, other than that I felt pretty good. Ten hits, but there were a few of them in there that were some pretty damn good pitches that I was shocked they even hit them."

Rays rigthander Al Reyes rejected his outright assignment and was released from the roster. He had been designated for assignment August 9.