B.J. Upton, Kelly Shoppach and Carlos Pena homered as the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a home sweep Thursday afternoon with a 5-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Upton led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo shot before the Padres answered with three runs in the second. Willy Aybar's two-run single in the fifth tied the game at 3-3 and Shoppach launched a homer to left field, his first of the season, to put Tampa back in front in the sixth.
Pena added a solo homer in the seventh, his 16th of the campaign, to make a winner out of Matt Garza (8-5). The right-hander tossed eight innings, surrendering three runs on six hits en route to his third win in the past four decisions.
Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 17th save.
It was just the fourth victory in the last 13 games for Tampa, which improved to 19-17 at Tropicana Field. The Rays host the Arizona Diamondbacks this weekend, then play their next six games on the road, where they're a major league-best 24-12.
Oscar Salazar had a two-run homer and Jerry Hairston Jr. added a run-scoring single in defeat for San Diego, which saw its three-game winning streak snapped.
Wade LeBlanc (4-5) absorbed the loss, allowing four runs on 11 hits over 5 1/3 innings.
San Diego | Tampa Bay | |
Wade LeBlanc | Player | Matt Garza |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.1 | IP | 8.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 5 |
11 | Hits | 6 |
6.75 | ERA | 3.38 |
San Diego | Tampa Bay | |
Jerry Hairston Jr. | Player | Kelly Shoppach |
2 | Hits | 3 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 1 |
2 | TB | 7 |
.667 | Avg | .750 |