Angels 11, Rays 2
Erick Aybar homered and tripled as part of his second four-RBI performance in seven days against Tampa Bay as host Los Angeles rolled to an easy victory.
Aybar slammed a two-run homer off Chris Archer (8-6) in a three-run fourth inning uprising and smacked a two-run triple in a five-run sixth as the Angels pulled away. Los Angeles has won five consecutive games and nine of its last 10.
Ben Zobrist homered and added an RBI single for the Rays, who have lost five straight and eight of their last nine. Tampa Bay has fallen 5 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the American League and holds just a two-game lead over Baltimore for the AL’s second wild-card spot.
Garrett Richards (5-6) worked only five innings due to issuing seven walks. The right-hander struck out six and gave up one run and two hits in five innings.
Aybar also had four RBIs in a win over the Rays on Aug. 27, and his homer Monday gave the Angels a four-run lead and the ensuing triple two innings later made it 7-2. Hank Conger, Luis Jimenez and Peter Bourjos had RBIs later in the inning to boost the lead to eight and Grant Green added his first career homer in the seventh.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tampa Bay is 0-4 to start a 10-game road trip and has played nine games in California or Arizona since Aug. 6, losing each of them. … The Angels had 16 hits with Aybar, Bourjos, J.B. Shuck and Mike Trout each scoring two runs. … Archer allowed five runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings.