Upton powers Rays to rainy win over Mets

NEW YORK (Reuters) - B.J. Upton drove in four runs as the Tampa Bay Rays pounded the New York Mets 10-6 in a rain-delayed interleague game on Sunday.
Upton, who had four hits and scored three runs, leveled the score at 2-2 with a two-run double in the fifth inning. He then put Tampa Bay ahead to stay with a two-run homer in the seventh.
"It's starting to come around, slowly but surely," Upton, who tied a career high with his four RBIs, told reporters. "Just have to stick with it and keep doing what I'm doing."
Tampa Bay claimed the series by winning their second consecutive game over the Mets.
"When B.J. gets going -- leadoff hitter, whoever's in the spot -- when they get going early, it gives the guys a little more confidence," said Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, who also had four hits.
The Rays, the defending American League champions, shelled seven Mets pitchers for 17 hits in a game delayed by rain for 34 minutes in the seventh inning.
Tampa Bay scored four runs to take the lead in the fifth inning and tallied four more in the seventh after the National League Mets had taken a 5-4 lead on Brian Schneider's three-run homer in the sixth.
"After we gave up the homer to Schneider and put them back on top, our guys really responded well," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "And B.J.'s home run was magnificent."
Maddon said he thought another big moment was Willy Aybar's pinch-hit single in the fifth, when the Rays trailed 2-0.
"That turned the tide right around," Maddon said of the hit, which loaded the bases. "That gave us a strong sense of believing right there and it put them in a totally different mindset."
Upton followed with his two-run double to tie the score.
Carl Crawford added three hits for the Rays, while David Wright collected three of New York's 10 hits.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina)

Source: Reuters