Rays Keep a Hold on First

ST. PETERSBURG - "It feels like every game we go out there, we believe we're going win the game," winning pitcher Scott Kazmir said Thursday after the Rays completed their best homestand ever with a 5-2 victory over the New York Yankees. Backup catcher Shawn Riggans hit a two-run home run and Kazmir (2-1) pitched six shutout innings for the Rays, who went 6-1 at home against the Angels and Yankees and now lead the AL East by a game.

Not only have the Rays (24-17) won 16 of their last 22 games, but 19 of them were played against teams that had winning records last season.

"It seems like every team we play is in first place or the Yankees," said Troy Percival, who earned his 10th save before a crowd of 19,976.

The Yankees (20-22) fell into last place, making a strong MVP case for the injured Alex Rodriguez by scoring just six runs in the four-game series.

"They're not at full strength with A-Rod and (Jorge) Posada out of there," noted Percival, "but with the pitches our (starters) have been throwing, you've got to give them credit. They're taking us deep into ball games."

In six of their last eight starts, Rays starting pitchers have not given up a run. Over the last nine games, their collective earned run average is a Gibsonian 1.20.

Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of the Rays' surge is they have accomplished it without much offense. They had only five hits Thursday, all against Yankees starter Ian Kennedy (0-3) and none from the 2-through-6 spots in the order. Carlos Pena is hitting .212 with two homers in the last 30 games. Evan Longoria is hitting .210. The Rays scored fewer than four runs per game on their homestand and went 6-1.

"In spite of the fact that we're not hitting, I don't want our players to be concerned about that," said manager Joe Maddon. "I would much prefer going about it with defense and pitching, knowing we're going to hit eventually."

Thursday's game may have been decided in the first inning, perhaps on the first batter. Johnny Damon punched a hard shot toward left field, but Longoria speared it with full extension, got up and threw him out easily.

"It energizes the entire team when you make such a great play like that," Pena said. "Same thing with Aki leading off with a home run. It really sets the tone; it gets you going."

Akinori Iwamura, the Rays' hottest hitter, pulled Kennedy's fourth pitch into the right field stands and the Rays led all the way.

The Yankees collected four of their seven hits and scored twice off Gary Glover in the seventh inning.

NOTES: The Rays open a six-game road trip at St. Louis tonight . . . Shortstop Jason Bartlett missed Thursday's game due to a family matter, but expects to rejoin the team today . . . ESPN has picked up the Rays-Red Sox game of June 4 as its primary Wednesday night game . . . Kazmir, who started his 100th game, is 10-8 lifetime against the Yankees.

New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Damon lf-1b 5 0 0 0 0 0 .255

MlCabrera cf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .268

Jeter ss 4 0 2 1 0 0 .302

Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 .181

SDuncan rf-1b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .200

HMatsui ph-lf 1 0 0 0 0 1 .314

Ensberg 1b-3b 2 0 0 0 2 1 .217

Cano 2b 4 1 1 0 0 1 .207

AlGonzalez 3b 1 0 0 0 1 0 .281

BAbreu ph-rf 2 0 0 0 0 1 .282

JMolina c 4 1 1 0 0 2 .203

Totals 34 2 7 2 3 7

Tampa Bay AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Iwamura 2b 3 2 2 1 1 0 .265

Crawford lf 3 0 0 1 0 0 .276

Upton cf 3 0 0 1 0 0 .273

CPena 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .212

CFloyd dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .367

Longoria 3b 3 0 0 0 0 3 .210

Hinske rf 3 1 1 0 0 1 .261

Gross rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .227

Riggans c 3 2 2 2 0 0 .250

Zobrist ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 27 5 5 5 1 7

New York 000 000 200 - 2 7 0

Tampa Bay 101 210 00x - 5 5 0

LOB-New York 8, Tampa Bay 2. 2B-Iwamura (5), Hinske (8). HR-Riggans (3), off IKnndy Iwamura (3), off IKennedy. RBIs-MlCabrera (19), Jeter (19), Iwamura (13), Crawford (24), Upton (26), Riggans 2 (10). SF-Crawford, Upton.

New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

IKennedy L, 0-3 5 5 5 5 1 3 77 8.48

Hawkins 1 0 0 0 0 3 16 6.05

Veras 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 1.93

ERamirez 1 0 0 0 0 1 14 0.00

Tampa Bay IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Kazmir W, 2-1 6 3 0 0 3 3 100 1.69

Glover 2/3 4 2 2 0 0 19 3.65

TMiller H, 4 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 2 4.15

Wheeler H, 10 1 0 0 0 0 2 9 1.23

Percival S, 10 1 0 0 0 0 2 14 2.25

HBP-by IKennedy (Zobrist). T-2:44. A-19,976 (36,048).