Rays Beat the Yankees Again to Take a 5-Game Lead

NEW YORK (AP) – Carlos Pena homered twice and Ben Zobrist and

B.J. Upton also connected as the Tampa Bay Rays battered another

Yankees ace, beating New York 8-6 Thursday night for their sixth

straight victory.

A day after tagging A.J. Burnett, the majors' best team came out

swinging against Andy Pettitte (5-1).

Jason Bartlett led off with a double, Carl Crawford followed

with an RBI single and then Zobrist homered. Just like that, it was

3-0, the crowd quieted and pitching coach Dave Eiland headed to the

mound.

James Shields (5-1) got sharper while pitching into the eighth

inning and Tampa Bay improved to a remarkable 17-4 on the road and

30-11 overall. The Rays swept the two-game series between the clubs

that began the day with the best records in baseball.