Canseco Hits 17th, Tampa Wins

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are getting everything they expected out of Jose Canseco and more.

The slugger homered for the fifth straight game, giving him the major league lead with 17, and also had a RBI double in Friday night's 10-9 victory over the Anaheim Angels.

The Devil Rays signed the 34-year-old Canseco to inject power into an anemic offense but are also reaping the benefits of him hitting for average.

A .237 hitter in 1998 when he hit a career-high 46 homers for Toronto, Canseco is hitting .304 this year the highest his average has been this late in a season since he was at .301 on Sept. 20, 1996.

Canseco's solo shot off Ken Hill fueled a comeback from an early four-run deficit and he, Kevin Stocker, Dave Martinez and John Flaherty all drove in two runs for the Devil Rays.

Canseco's streak of five consecutive game with a home run equals his career best.

"It's luck, really," he said. "I'm just putting a good swing on the ball. The bat speed and technique are pretty good right now."

Stocker's RBI single off Mike Magnante (1-1) snapped a 7-7 tie in the fifth inning. A second run scored for a 9-7 lead when Stocker was caught stealing in a rundown between first and second base.

Rick White (4-0) pitched 1 2-3 perfect innings in relief of struggling starter Tony Saunders to get the victory.

Roberto Hernandez gave up a two-out, RBI single to Orlando Palmeiro in the ninth, but retired Andy Sheets on a fly to center to earn his major league-leading 15th save in 16 opportunities.

The Angels scored six unearned runs in the second, three of them on Mo Vaughn's ninth homer. Andy Sheets and Darin Erstad also had RBI singles in the inning off Saunders, but Hill couldn't protect a 6-2 lead.

"We scored enough runs tonight to win," said Vaughn, who struck out with two runners on and the Angels trailing by one run in the eighth. "We just didn't o everything that we wanted to do on our pitching side."

Canseco's homer, leading off the third inning, was his seventh in 10 games and trimmed Anaheim's lead to 6-4. Quinton McCracken chased Hill with an RBI double in the fourth, and Tampa Bay went ahead 7-6 when Martinez the first batter to face reliever Mike Magnante doubled off right fielder Todd Greene's glove to drive in two runs.

The Angels made it 7-7 in the top of the fifth on Steve Decker's RBI double, which finished Saunders' night. Pinch-hitter Chris Pritchett's sacrifice fly off Esteban Yan trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to 9-8 in the seventh.

Yan struck out Vaughn with runners at first and third with one out in the Anaheim eighth. After the reliever worked out of the jam, Canseco made it 10-8 with an RBI double.

"We had our big guy up there in exactly the situation you want," Angels manager Terry Collins said.

"If they want to pitch around him, we have the bases loaded. If they want to pitch to him, I like my chances. You tip your hat. This is a night when you say they got it done and we didn't."

Wade Boggs resumed his quest for 3,000 career hits, returning to Tampa Bay's lineup after a stint on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. He went 2-for-4 to move within 55 of the milestone.

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