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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Garret Anderson and the Anaheim Angels each hit a lucky seven.

Anderson homered twice and tied a career-high with seven RBI as the Angels beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10-1 Thursday night for their seventh straight victory.

	Garret Anderson Left Field Anaheim Angels Profile
	2002 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 137 23 108 80 6 .311

Anderson hit three-run homers in the fifth and sixth innings. It's his second multihomer game this year and sixth overall.

Anderson finished 4-for-4, falling a triple short of the cycle. He also drove in seven runs on Aug. 29, 1996, against the New York Yankees.

"I definitely think that Garret has to get consideration for MVP,'' Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said. "But to be honest with you, that's not a motivating factor for Garret. He wants to win, and he's definitely holding up his end of the bargain.''

Anderson is hitting .311 with 23 homers and 108 RBI.

"I was just trying to add on to what everyone else has been doing around here,'' Anderson said. "Everyday somebody's been doing something, and tonight was just my turn to do something.''

The Angels lead Seattle by four games in the wild-card race. Anaheim moved within three games of AL West-leading Oakland.

Ramon Ortiz (12-9) gave up one run and six hits in seven innings. He was coming off a five-hit shutout over Baltimore last Saturday.

Aubrey Huff hit a solo homer to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 12 games for Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays lost all three games at Tropicana Field, marking the ninth time they've been swept in a series of three or more games this season.

"We didn't do much, and they did too much,'' Tampa Bay manager Hal McRae said. "They're hot. They're hitting well. They're pitching well. That's a pretty good combination.''

Anderson's first three-run shot put the Angels up 5-1 in the fifth.

After Darin Erstad hit a two-run single in the sixth, Anderson's 23rd homer made it 10-1.

"It seems like when we get an opportunity, whether the door's cracked open a little bit with a walk or we get a key hit to get it started, we're able to roll it over and that's important,'' Scioscia said.

Anderson hit an RBI double for a 2-0 lead in the third. Troy Glaus had a sacrifice fly in the Angels first.

Huff hit his 19th homer in the fourth.

Anaheim's David Eckstein went 3-for-3 and was hit by a pitch for the 26th time. He scored a career-high four times.

Joe Kennedy (7-10) allowed eight runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. The left-hander, who missed his last start because of arm fatigue, has won just twice in his past 13 starts.

"My arm feels good,'' Kennedy said. "I couldn't get Erstad out. I couldn't get Eckstein out. And I couldn't get Anderson out.''

Dennis Cook worked a perfect ninth for the Angels. It was his first appearance since going on the disabled list July 5 with a left shoulder injury.

The announced crowd was 10,135, although the actual turnout appeared to be around 3,000. One contributing factor was heavy rain associated with a tropical storm.

Game notes

Angels RF Tim Salmon (bruised left hand) was in the starting lineup for the first time since Aug. 10. He went 0-for-2 with two walks. ... Eckstein matched his career-high with a 12-game hitting streak. He has consecutive three-hit games. ... Tampa Bay LF Carl Crawford snapped an 0-for-14 slide with a first-inning single. ... Kennedy picked up his eighth error of the season on an errant pickoff attempt in the third. Those are the most errors by a major league pitcher since Randy Johnson had eight for Seattle in 1998. ... Kennedy also hit his 14th batter. ... The Angels won eight of nine against Tampa Bay this season. ... Ortiz has allowed 36 homers, four short of Shawn Boskie's team record set in 1996.