(Sports Network) - Two teams heading in opposite directions at the moment resume a three-game series tonight at Oakland's McAfee Coliseum, where the Tampa Bay Rays will shoot for a second straight win over the sputtering Athletics.

The surging Rays handed Oakland its eighth defeat in 10 outings with Monday's 7-6, 13-inning triumph. The win was the ninth in a 12-game stretch for Tampa Bay, which currently owns the second best record in the American League at 26-19.

Evan Longoria followed Carlos Pena's leadoff single in the 13th with a two-run homer that gave the Rays a 7-5 advantage. Tampa closer Troy Percival yielded an RBI triple to Daric Barton in the bottom of the frame, but retired Kurt Suzuki for the final out with the tying run at third.

Longoria had three hits and drove in three runs on the evening, while Eric Hinske added a two-run homer to Tampa Bay's winning cause.

Jason Hammel (3-2), making his first appearances since May 7, allowed a hit over three innings to earn the victory.

Former Ray Chad Gaudin (3-3) was saddled with the loss after serving up Longoria's go-ahead shot.

The defeat spoiled a great night for Oakland's Frank Thomas, who collected three hits and homered twice while knocking in three runs. Emil Brown also homered for the A's.

Oakland may have a hard time breaking out of its funk tonight in a matchup with Tampa ace Scott Kazmir, who puts a 12-inning scoreless streak on the line.

One day after signing a contract extension worth a potential $39.5 million over four seasons, Kazmir proved the Rays made a wise investment by dominating the New York Yankees on Thursday. The hard-throwing lefty yielded just three hits and three walks over six scoreless frames to fuel Tampa's 5-2 win over the Bronx Bombers.

Kazmir was equally as good in his previous outing, his second after being activated from a month-long stint on the disabled list. He again surrendered only three hits and no runs in six innings to defeat the Angels on May 10, a game in which Kazmir recorded a season-best six strikeouts.

The 24-year-old has excellent career numbers against Oakland to boot. In eight career starts against the A's, Kazmir is 4-1 with a 3.24 earned run average and posted 43 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings. He went 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA over three appearances versus Oakland last season.

The Athletics counter with rookie Greg Smith, who has hit a rough patch lately after a very impressive start to his big league career.

Smith, one of the players acquired by Oakland in an offseason trade with Arizona that sent All-Star hurler Dan Haren to the Diamondbacks, allowed two runs or less in five of his first six starts after being promoted from Triple A on April 9. The left-hander has lost back-to-back games since and given up a total of seven runs over 10 2/3 innings during that stretch.

The 24-year-old had his shortest effort of the year this past Thursday in Cleveland, where Smith was tagged for three runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings during Oakland's 4-2 setback to the Indians. Six days earlier, he permitted four runs and six hits in six innings to be saddled with a loss at Texas.

Tampa Bay won six of its 10 encounters with the Athletics in 2007 and took two of three games from Oakland in its lone visit to McAfee Coliseum last year.