Longoria homers twice, Rays beat Rangers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton provided the power early and the Tampa Bay Rays snapped their four-game losing skid.
Longoria hit a pair of homers and drove in three, Upton smacked a three-run shot and Elliot Johnson added a solo blast in an 8-4 win over the Texas Rangers in the finale of a three-game set Wednesday.
"We knew we had to jump out to a quick lead and we did that," Upton said. "We kind of kept our foot down and didn't stop."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alex Cobb, who's tied for the American League lead with four wins in August, didn't make it out of the fifth inning. He surrendered four runs -- three earned -- on eight hits and a walk over 4 2/3 frames for Tampa Bay.
Jake McGee (5-2) tossed a 1-2-3 sixth to pick up the win.
Josh Hamilton hit his 36th homer and Matt Harrison (15-8) was touched for seven runs on 12 hits and a walk over 5 1/3 frames for Texas, which had won six of its last seven coming in.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Executing early in the game, I wasn't able to do that," Harrison said. "The home runs killed me tonight."
The Rays jumped out to a 6-0 lead after plating three runs in each of the first two innings.
Desmond Jennings led off the game with a single and came home two batters later when Ben Zobrist doubled down the left field line. Longoria then hit a two-run homer to center field.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In the second, Sam Fuld lined a one-out triple to right and Jennings walked before Upton belted a three-run blast deep into the seats in left field for a 6-0 lead.
The Rangers got two runs back in the home half and a run apiece in the third and fifth frames.
David Murphy had a one-out single in the second and Mitch Moreland cracked a two-run homer over the left-center field wall.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Nelson Cruz grounded into an RBI fielder's choice in the third and Hamilton launched a one-out solo homer in the fifth into the second deck in right field to make it 6-4.
Johnson got a run back for the Rays in the sixth with a leadoff homer to left field and Longoria added some insurance in the ninth with a blast to center field.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Harrison is 1-2 with 5.55 ERA in his career against the Rays ... Upton's homer was his 16th of the year ... Tampa Bay was 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position, while Texas finished 1-for-7.