Dave Martinez drove in three runs and Dwight Gooden pitched five strong innings in his 400th career start for Tampa Bay in Anaheim.
Gooden (2-0) gave up a run on four hits and struck out three in his third start for the Devil Rays, who obtained him from the Houston Astros on April 13 in a cash transaction. The victory was the right-hander’s second in his last 11 starts.
Adam Kennedy led off the bottom of the third with his third homer–the fifth surrendered by Gooden in his first 17 innings this season.
Inside Pitch: The Angels’ Darin Erstad, who entered Thursday night’s game with a major-league-leading .456 average, had three hits. It was Erstad’s 15th multi-hit game this month, the most by any major-leaguer in April since Dave Winfield’s 15 multi-hit games in 1979.
