St. Petersburg, FL (My Sportsbook) - Garret Anderson extended his hitting streak to 23 games with the game-winning RBI single in the ninth inning and the LA Angels of Anaheim escaped with a 5-4 win, avoiding a three-game sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Erick Aybar had a two-run triple and Chone Figgins had two hits with an RBI and a run scored for Los Angeles, which had dropped five of its last six contests coming into the game. The Angels leaped back in front of Tampa for the best mark (77-48) in the majors with the win.

Jose Arredondo (5-1) pitched 1 2/3 frames for the win despite allowing the tying run in the eighth, and Francisco Rodriguez recorded his major league- leading 48th save with a scoreless ninth. LA starter Jered Weaver was touched for three runs on five hits and one walk while tying a career-high with nine strikeouts in six innings for the no-decision.

Gabe Gross was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and an RBI, while Jason Bartlett, Carlos Pena and Shawn Riggans each had a run-scoring hit for the Rays, who had won nine of 11 coming into the game. Tampa remained 4 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the AL East by virtue of Boston's 11-6 loss to Baltimore.

"I'm so pleased and impressed with the effort of our guys," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We did so many things well tonight. It was a well-played game on both sides. You're just not going to win every game."

Matt Garza gave up four runs on seven hits and four walks while fanning seven over 6 2/3 frames in the no-decision. The right-hander was coming off one of the best efforts of his career after tossing a two-hit shutout against Texas on Friday.

The Halos came back to scrap out a run in the ninth and take a 5-4 lead. Grant Balfour (3-2), in his second inning of relief, started the inning by walking Figgins, who moved to second on a Mark Teixeira single two batters later.

Chad Bradford took the mound, and LA executed a double steal before Bradford proceeded to issue a free pass to Vladimir Guerrero to load them up. Torii Hunter grounded weakly to third and Figgins was forced out at the plate for the second out. Anderson then grounded sharply to second for an infield single allowing Teixeira to score the winning run.

"I like the way we bounced back not only in the game but inning to inning," LA skipper Mike Scioscia said. "It wasn't as clean as we would have liked. Those guys (Tampa) do a lot of good things out there."

Rodriguez came on in the ninth and allowed a leadoff single to Gross, but pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro hit into a double play and Bartlett grounded out to end the game.

The Rays stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the second. Eric Hinske started a two- out rally with a single, stole second and scored on a Gross single to right. Gross advanced to second on a late throw to the plate and came around to score on a Riggans single to left. Bartlett kept things going with a drive to left- center. Center fielder Hunter and Juan Rivera in left both converged on the ball, hesitated, and let the ball drop between them for an RBI triple.

The Angels, however, responded with a four-run third to take the lead. A walk to Sean Rodriguez and a Jeff Mathis single set up Figgins, who poked an RBI double to left. Aybar followed by smoking a two-run triple deep into the gap in right-center, and Teixeira plated Aybar with a groundout before Garza managed to get the last two outs of the inning.

Both pitchers settled down after each fell victim to a big inning. The Angels loaded the bases in the sixth and again in the seventh but came away empty. Mathis flied out to right for the third out in the sixth, and Trever Miller came on to relieve Garza in the seventh to retire Anderson on strikes.

Tampa took advantage and tied the game 4-4 in the eighth. B.J. Upton lined a double to left with one away and scored when Pena did the same. Cliff Floyd moved Pena to third with a single, but Arredondo recovered to get the final two outs without further incident.

Game Notes

Tampa Bay won the season series 6-3, which included a mark of 5-1 at Tropicana Field...The Rays' 22-10 mark since the All-Star break and 47-18 ledger at home are still good for tops in the AL...LA left 11 men on base while Tampa stranded five.