Rays slide into AL East lead

Sonnanstine, Tampa complete 5-1 road trip

Tampa Bay's Shawn Riggans, who homered and had two RBIs, singles home Willy Aybar in the eighth. (GENE J. PUSKAR/Associated Press)

What a first half the Tampa Bay Rays enjoyed as the majors' surprise team of the season. Their goal now? To make the second half just as stunningly good.

Backup catcher Shawn Riggans homered among his three hits and drove in two runs and the first-place Rays completed a remarkable first-half turnaround, beating the Pirates, 4-3, yesterday in Pittsburgh behind Andy Sonnanstine's seven effective innings.

Tampa Bay regained first place in the AL East for the first time since June 3 when the Red Sox lost at Houston, 3-2. The Sox and Rays open a three-game series at Tropicana Field tonight.

The Rays are 49-32, the most victories midway through a season by a team that had the majors' worst record the season before, according to Stats, Inc. They went 5-1 on a road trip to Florida and Pittsburgh and finished 12-6 in interleague play.

"We went 5-1 on the trip and I felt we let one slip away," said closer Troy Percival, who pitched the ninth inning for his 19th save in 21 opportunities. "You get to that point, you've got a team that's doing something special."

The Rays' .605 winning percentage has been bettered at midseason by a team that was the worst overall the previous season only by the 1903 New York Giants (.643, 45-25).

"This is great, but it's only the first half," said Riggans, who has 15 RBIs in 73 at-bats. "Nobody remembers the first half, everybody remembers the second half and the last day of the season."

Sonnanstine (9-3) limited Pittsburgh to two runs, one earned, and is 6-0 after a Rays loss.

Riggans and Willy Aybar hit solo home runs, the only runs allowed by Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny in six innings, and Riggans' run-scoring single capped a go-ahead two-run eighth inning.

Angels 1, Dodgers 0 - John Lackey held the host Dodgers to three hits for 8 2/3 innings and Francisco Rodriguez retired James Loney with the bases loaded for the final out as the Angels won on the road.

Lackey could not match his teammates' no-hit effort from a night before. Unlike Jered Weaver, though, he got the win.

On Saturday night, Weaver and reliever Jose Arredondo did not allow a hit but the Angels lost to the Dodgers, 1-0, on an unearned run. Weaver took the loss in the unofficial no-hitter. The game was just the fifth in the majors since 1900 when the winning team didn't get a hit.

Reds 9, Indians 5 - Bronson Arroyo bounced back from the worst start of his career and Adam Dunn hit a three-run homer to help Cincinnati win in Cleveland.

Arroyo (5-7) struck out six and gave up two runs over six innings for the Reds, who took five of six from their interleague and intrastate rivals this season.

White Sox 5, Cubs 1 - Carlos Quentin, Brian Anderson, and Jim Thome homered to back Mark Buehrle's seven strong innings as the White Sox completed a three-game sweep at US Cellular Field, one week after the Cubs swept at Wrigley Field.

Mariners 9, Padres 2 - Ichiro Suzuki went 5 for 5, Adrian Beltre and Jeff Clement homered, and visiting Seattle had a season-high 18 hits to beat Jake Peavy for a three-game sweep of San Diego.

Giants 11, Athletics 1 - Rich Aurilia homered and matched his career-high with five RBIs and Jonathan Sanchez won his fifth straight road start to help San Francisco beat Oakland for its first series win in the Bay Area rivalry in two years.

Cardinals 9, Royals 6 - Jason LaRue drove in four runs with a home run and a triple and Albert Pujols also homered, leading visiting St. Louis over Kansas City.

Marlins 4, Diamondbacks 3 - Jorge Cantu hit a game-ending RBI single after Hanley Ramirez had tied the game with a home run against Arizona closer Brandon Lyon, and Florida came back to win in Miami.

Mets 3, Yankees 1 - Oliver Perez limited the Yankees to one run and three hits in seven sharp innings and Carlos Delgado homered again as the host Mets won the Subway Series.

Twins 5, Brewers 0 - Kevin Slowey breezed through his fourth straight dominant start, beating Ben Sheets and Milwaukee with a three-hit shutout in Minneapolis.

Rangers 5, Phillies 1 - Eric Hurley pitched into the sixth inning to earn his first major league win and Chris Davis homered to lead host Texas past Philadelphia.

Tigers 4, Rockies 3 - Dane Sardinha hit a two-run triple for his first major league hit to rally host Detroit to victory for a three-game sweep of Colorado.

Blue Jays 1, Braves 0 - A.J. Burnett pitched seven shutout innings and Alex Rios drove in the only run of the game as host Toronto beat Atlanta.

Nationals 3, Orioles 2 - Ronnie Belliard hit a two-run homer in the 12th inning to give host Washington a win over Baltimore.