ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Mark Hendrickson took a one-hitter into the eighth inning and Travis Lee homered as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays completed a four-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 6-2 victory Sunday.

Pitching with his spot in the Devil Rays’ rotation in jeopardy, Hendrickson (5-7) didn’t allow a hit until Emil Brown doubled with two outs in the fourth inning. He left after 7 1-3 inning and gave up two runs, four hits and one walk. The left-hander was coming off two starts against Boston where he allowed 11 runs and 11 hits over three combined innings.

Kansas City, which has scored in only three of its last 34 innings, got two runs and three hits off Hendrickson in the eighth. Joe McEwing’s RBI single ended Hendrickson’s day.

David DeJesus added a sacrifice fly against Trever Miller.

The victory moved Lou Piniella (1,492-1,391) past Hall of Famer Clark Griffith into 18th place for career wins as a manager. The Devil Rays are 12-5 since the All-Star break, including an 8-2 homestand that ended Sunday.

Lee put the Devil Rays up 1-0 on a homer off Jose Lima (4-9) in the second, the 23rd home run off Lima in 116 1-3 innings this season. Lee has just four RBIs over his last 35 games.

Lima allowed three runs, six hits, five walks and struck out five in five-plus innings.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, but scored just once on Carl Crawford’s sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. Crawford and Jorge Cantu had RBI singles in the sixth that gave the Devil Rays a 4-0 advantage.

Alex Gonzalez and pinch-hitter Toby Hall had run-scoring singles in the seventh to make it 6-0.

Notes: Tampa Bay rookie RF Jonny Gomes, who became the first Devil Rays’ player to hit three homers in a game Saturday, nearly missed that contest with a sore left foot. Gomes went 0-for-2 Sunday. He also walked twice and was hit by a pitch thrown by RHP Leo Nunez in the seventh, which prompted a chorus of boos from the crowd. . … Gomes lined hard to third with two on and two outs in the first after homering in his final three at-bats Saturday. … It’s the first time the Royals have been swept in a four-game series since Aug. 6-9, 2004, at Anaheim. … Kansas City C John Buck was back in the lineup after being rested the previous two games. … Devil Rays SS Julio Lugo appeared to hurt his left leg around the knee area on a slide into second base in the first, but remained in the game.

AP-ES-07-31-05 1721EDT


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