ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Toby Hall homered in the ninth to get Tampa Bay to extra innings and Aubrey Huff’s solo shot in the 10th gave the Devil Rays a 5-4 victory over the Florida Marlins on Friday night.

The Devil Rays ended a seven-game losing streak in an intrastate rivalry that’s never really taken off with fans in the Sunshine State. Attendance at Tropicana Field was announced as 10,017 – lowest ever for a home game against the Marlins.

Hall led off the ninth with a first-pitch homer off Joe Borowski.

Huff, who has struggled at the plate since coming off the disabled list with a sprained knee, hit his first of the season off Yusmeiro Petit (0-1).

Tyler Walker (1-2) pitched one inning to get the win, Tampa Bay’s first in 21 tries when trailing after eighth innings.

Dan Uggla hit a solo homer off Devil Rays starter Casey Fossum, who left after four innings because of a mild left groin strain.

The Devil Rays scored on Huff’s run-scoring double in the first and Joey Gathright’s RBI grounder in the fifth before Travis Lee lined a run-scoring single to right-center to put Tampa Bay ahead 3-2 in the sixth.

Lee, who grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners in scoring position in the fourth, had been 0-for-28 in those situations this season and 0-for-33 dating to 2005. He also came to the plate with runners at first and second and the Devil Rays trailing 4-3, and struck out to end the eighth.

The Marlins took the 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth after loading the bases on Miguel Cabrera’s single off Travis Harper and two walks. Borchard singled to center off Shawn Camp, driving in two to put Florida in position to win for the first time when trailing after seven innings.

Logan Kensing pitched a scoreless eighth for the Marlins, but Borowski couldn’t finish the Devil Rays.

After Hall lined Borowski’s first pitch into the left field, Julio Lugo doubled and Carl Crawford walked with two outs. Borowski got Jonny Gomes to ground out to send the game into extra innings.

Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon missed the game to attend his girlfriend’s graduation from law school in California. Bench coach Bill Evers, a manager for 19 seasons in the minor league, will fill in again Saturday.

Fossum allowed two runs and four hits in four innings. Besides Uggla’s sixth homer, the left-hander gave up a RBI single in the second to Reggie Abercrombie, who extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games.

Marlins starter Brian Moehler pitched seven strong innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out four before departing with the 4-3 lead.

Notes: Marlins manager Joe Girardi was ejected after arguing a close play at first base in the sixth inning. … Uggla tied the Marlins record for home runs by a second baseman. Luis Castillo had six in 2003 and Damion Easley hit six each of the past two seasons. … Abercrombie’s hitting streak matches the longest of the year by a Marlins player. Hanley Ramirez had an 11-game streak from May 3-14. … Fossum’s early exit stopped a stretch of four consecutive starts in which the left-hander worked at least six innings.

AP-ES-05-19-06 2218EDT


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