Tampa Bay (38-26) at Los Angeles (39-26)

No more proof is needed, but a road win against the Los Angeles Angels further illustrates just how much the Tampa Bay Rays have improved.

The Rays look to win consecutive road games against the Angels for the first time in over eight years Tuesday night when they continue a three-game set with the AL West leaders.

Tampa Bay (38-26) entered Monday night’s series opener having been outscored 54-20 while batting .224 with two home runs during an eight-game losing streak at Angel Stadium.

It didn’t take long for the Rays to prove they are a different team as rookie Evan Longoria, Willy Aybar and Dioner Navarro hit consecutive home runs off nine-game winner Joe Saunders in the second inning. The Angels (39-26) took a short-lived 4-3 lead before Tampa Bay went ahead for good with a five-run fifth en route to a 13-4 victory.

“Obviously we’ve been playing a whole lot better this year and we have a lot more weapons, but I didn’t expect any of that,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I mean, to hit home runs at night in this ballpark like that - they just don’t go to left field. So the back-to-back-to-back quite frankly was a surprise. But I’ll take it.”

Longoria, a native of Downey, Calif, also homered in the ninth for his second multihomer game.

“Shoot, what a homecoming for me. I had all my family and friends in, and it was just a great feeling to be able to do what I did tonight,” Longoria said. “That’s a hot ballclub over there, and just to get that rally started in the second and get on top of them was big.”

The win was only the sixth for the Rays in their last 35 games in Anaheim, where they haven’t won two in a row since April 27-28, 2000.

It was also Maddon’s first win in Anaheim as a big league manager after eight losses there. Maddon spent 31 years in the Angels organization and six seasons as Mike Scioscia’s bench coach before taking the Tampa Bay job before the 2006 campaign.

Tampa Bay is 4-0 this season against Los Angeles after losing 13 of the previous 16 overall meetings. The Rays have had a winning record against the Angels in a season series only once - 5-4 in 2005.

Tampa Bay’s James Shields (4-4, 3.64 ERA) hopes this start won’t be as eventful as his last. The right-hander was one of five Rays suspended for his part in a bench-clearing brawl at Boston on Thursday, an incident that began when Shields hit Coco Crisp with a pitch in the second inning.

Shields, who will begin serving his six-game suspension on Wednesday, struggled in that abbreviated outing, allowing four runs and three hits in one-plus inning.

Pitching on the road has been a problem for Shields, who is 1-3 with a 7.06 ERA in six starts away from Tropicana Field this season.

He has already shut down the Angels in 2008, tossing a one-hitter in a 2-0 home win on May 9. He struck out eight and walked none while retiring the last 17 batters he faced.

Shields is 3-1 with a 2.62 ERA in five career starts against Los Angeles.

Though he wasn’t particularly sharp, Angels right-hander Jered Weaver (5-6, 4.79) beat Seattle 5-4 on Wednesday for his third win in four starts. He allowed four runs and 10 hits in six innings.

Since throwing eight innings in a 2-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox on May 24, Weaver has surrendered 10 runs and 20 hits over 10 innings in his last two starts.