Crawford helps prevent Santana´s 7th win as Rays beat Angels

By FRED GOODALL
AP Sports Writer

Carl Crawford hit a three-run homer and Cliff Floyd added a pair of run-scoring singles, helping the Tampa Bay Rays stop Ervin Santana from becoming the AL´s first seven-game winner with an 8-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.

Santana departed with a 5-4 lead with one runner on and two outs in the sixth inning, but the game quickly shifted when Justin Speier (0-3) entered and gave up a double to Akinori Iwamura and Crawford´s third homer of the season.

B.J. Upton doubled for the third consecutive hit off the Angels reliever. He took third base on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch by Speier, who struggled for the second time in three days against the Rays.

Evan Longoria´s two-run, ninth-inning homer off Speier gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 win in the series opener Friday night. The Rays won by the same score Saturday, holding the Angels to a total of four hits in the two losses.

The series sweep left Los Angeles with a four-game losing streak for the first time since April 2007 and lifted the Rays (21-16) five games over .500 for the first time in the club´s 11-season history.

Although Santana remained unbeaten, Tampa Bay prevented an Angels starter from becoming the league´s first seven-game winner for the second straight day. Joe Saunders lost for the first time in seven decisions on Saturday.

J.P. Howell (2-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Andy Sonnanstine to get the victory. Troy Percival worked the ninth for his ninth save in 10 opportunities.

Garret Anderson and Torii Hunter drove in two runs apiece for the Angels, who finally showed signs of life on offense. Slumping Vladimir Guerrero went 2-for-4 and drove in a run for just the fourth time in 23 games.

Santana, coming off a four-hit shutout of Kansas City, allowed three runs on four hits in the first six batters Sunday. Floyd, Upton and Longoria had the RBIs for Tampa Bay, which also had been struggling at the plate the past week.

The Angels snapped a streak of 20 consecutive scoreless innings with RBI singles by Guerrero, Anderson and Hunter in the third inning, however Santana quickly fell behind again.

Upton and Carlos Pena singled to start the bottom of the third. Floyd, in his first action since coming off the 15-day disabled list, followed with his second run-scoring single to give Sonnanstine another lead the Tampa Bay starter couldn´t hold.

Anderson´s RBI single and Hunter´s run-scoring triple turned the Angels´ 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 lead and ended Sonnanstine´s afternoon. The Rays starter gave up eight hits, walked two and struck out three.

Santana allowed five runs and eight hits _ both season highs _ in 5 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

Notes:@ Crawford finished 3-for-5, stole two bases and scored two runs. ... Speier has allowed five homers in 15 innings this season. ... Angels INF Howie Kendrick´s strained left hamstring will be reevaluated on Monday. He went 3-for-3 in a rehab game with Class A Rancho Cucamonga last Tuesday, but experienced some tightness in the hamstring. ... Rays INF Ben Zobrist will have the pins removed from his broken left thumb on Monday and could be activated during this week´s series against the New York Yankees.