B.J. Upton’s 3-run double carries Rays to 7-3 victory over Marlins

Upton’s 3-run double lifts Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — B.J. Upton’s three-run double snapped an eighth-inning tie and helped the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Florida Marlins 7-3 Friday night in the opener of a series between the intrastate rivals.

Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford also drove in runs as the AL champions ended Florida’s five-game winning streak. J.P. Howell, the fifth Tampa Bay pitcher, worked 1 1-3 innings for the victory.

Hanley Ramirez homered for the third time in four games for the Marlins, hitting a solo shot that made it 3-all in the seventh.

The Rays loaded the bases against Renyel Pinto (2-1) and Brian Sanches in the eighth on a fielder’s choice and two walks. Upton drove his double off Sanches to the gap in right-center.

Crawford followed with a RBI single for a four-run cushion.

Ramirez, who had grand slams in two of three games against Baltimore this week, has driven in 13 runs in his last four games.

His first-inning RBI single gave starter Josh Johnson a quick lead, however the Marlins wasted opportunities to take control when they left the bases loaded in the second and stranded a runner at third the following inning.

The Rays scored on Pena’s RBI single in the first and Longoria’s run-scoring single in the third.

After Florida made it 2-2 on Ross Gload’s RBI double in the fifth, Tampa Bay quickly regained the lead with help from Johnson, whose fifth-inning wild pitch allowed Upton to score from third base.

Johnson allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. He departed with the score 3-all after Ramirez homered with two outs in the seventh off James Shields, who yielded three runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings.

Tampa Bay’s Jason Bartlett went 0 for 4, ending his career-best and franchise-record hitting streak at 19 games. He wound up scoring the go-ahead run, though, after reaching on a fielder’s choice in the eighth.

The so-called Citrus Series has never really caught on with fans and attracted a crowd of 20,972 to slightly more than half-full Tropicana Field. The Rays averaged 19,537 for a three-game series against Philadelphia this week, an especially disappointing number because it was a rematch of the teams that met in last year’s World Series.

NOTES: Longoria returned to Tampa Bay’s lineup after sitting out Thursday with a sore left hamstring. … The Rays are close to becoming the first team in major league history to have 100 steals and 100 homers before the All-Star break. They swiped three bases Friday night, giving them a baseball-best 114. They’ve hit 98 homers. … Marlins INF-OF Alfredo Amezaga (left knee) could resume batting practice this weekend. … Florida RHP Anibal Sanchez (right shoulder) might start light bullpen sessions next week.