ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., June 3 (UPI) -- Delmon Young and Carlos Pena homered Sunday, backing the five-hit pitching of J.P. Howell as Tampa Bay defeated Kansas City 5-1.
In his first start of the season, Howell (1-0) allowed just one earned run and did not walk a batter, while striking out seven.
The contest stood at 2-1 before Tampa Bay scored twice in the sixth and once in the eighth.
Carl Crawford hit an RBI double, Dioner Navarro hit an RBI triple and Brendan Harris hit an RBI single to round out Tampa Bay's offense. Pena scored twice and B.J. Upton scored once for the Devil Rays, who broke a two-game skid.
Kansas City scored its lone run on a solo homer by Jason LaRue in the fifth.
No one had more than one hit for the Royals, who have split their last four games.
Loser Scott Elarton (1-2) surrendered four earned runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings.
