ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays havent played like a cellar-dwelling team for the past week.Logan Forsythe homered after missing four games due to back spasms, and the Rays took two of three from the AL West-leading Texas Rangers with an 8-4 victory on Sunday.Texas has been in first place all year, Rays starting pitcher Drew Smyly said. Theyve got very good lineup, great pitching and we beat them two out of three.Forsythe hit an opposite-field, three-run shot off Martin Perez (8-9) during a five-run fourth that made it 6-2. He has six homers in his last 10 games.Tampa Bay, last in the AL East, has won six of seven. The Rays have outscored their opponents 55-18 during the stretch.I think were getting big hits, having more quality at bats with guys in scoring position, Forsythe said. Thats a great ball club over there. We just want to continue it and see where we end up.Smyly (6-11) allowed four runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings to go 4-0 in his last six starts.Delino DeShields hit a two-run homer in the third inning and Drew Stubbs had a solo drive in the fifth for the Rangers, who are 1-9-2 in their last 12 regular-season road series against the Rays. Texas beat Tampa Bay in the 2010 and 2011 ALDS, going a combined 5-0 at Tropicana Field.Perez, 1-8 on the road this season, gave up six runs, five hits and three walks over six innings.Steven Souza Jr. put the Rays up 8-4 on a two-run homer in the eighth.TRAINERS ROOMRays: CF Kevin Kiermaier (left hip tightness) didnt start for the second straight game but entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth. We probably would rather have not used him, but given how tight the ballgame was right there, he just does so much for our defense, manager Kevin Cash said. We anticipate with a full nights rest he should be good to go. ... RHP Alex Cobb (Tommy John surgery), nearing the end of a rehab assignment, starts for Triple-A Durham on Monday night.NUMBER GAMERays OF Mikie Mahtook is hitless in 29 at-bats after going 0 for 3. . Souza has homered twice in nine at-bats after hitting one in 158 at-bats. . The Rangers have homered in nine straight games against the Rays. . Texas last won a regular-season series at Tampa Bay May 30-June 1, 2011.UP NEXTRays: Rookie LHP Blake Snell (4-5) faces Boston and one-time Tampa Bay ace David Price (11-8) Monday night. Wholesale NHL Jerseys Authentic . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Cheap NHL Jerseys . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. http://www.jerseysnhlfromchina.us/ . - Oakland Raiders running back Rashad Jennings was speaking to a group of local high school students earlier this week when the conversation turned to the importance of being prepared when opportunities in life arise. NHL Jerseys China . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. ARLINGTON, Va. -- Even as one of the best defensemen in the NHL, Victor Hedman is in awe of Swedens blue line for the World Cup of Hockey.Hedman watches two-time Norris Trophy-winner Erik Karlsson and potential future winner Oliver Ekman-Larsson man the power play. He steps onto the ice with Tampa Bay defensive partner Anton Stralman to rekindle the same chemistry that got the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015.And then he sees three-time Chicago Blackhawks Cup winner Niklas Hjalmarsson blocking shots and Mattias Ekholm and Hampus Lindholm moving the puck all over the ice. Swedens defense may be one of the best units constructed in international play.The competition there is, especially on D, its pretty remarkable, Hedman said. You look at the guys that didnt make it. You have that kind of talent on the back end, it makes you appreciate being here.John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars who finished sixth in Norris Trophy voting last season, missed the cut and Sweden is already one injury replacement in after Niklas Kronwall withdrew from the World Cup, which begins Saturday in Toronto. Yet the greatness of the Swedish blue line isnt just in its depth of talent but in its diversity.Karlsson, the Ottawa Senators captain, is a point-producing machine who can play 30 minutes a game just like Hedman, a 6-foot-6 force who doesnt give up much skating with his size. Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes is a balance of that, someone who has tried to model his game after Hall of Fame countryman Nicklas Lidstrom.Obviously we feel very fortunate that we have that many defensemen we can pick from and all kinds of different defensemen, too, coach Rickard Gronborg said. It feels like we have quite a few players to choose from, and we have excellent players that are not on the team but obviously weve got to make a cut somewhere and these are the guys we feel like were going to win the battle with when the tournament starts.Sweden reached the final at the 2014 Sochi Olympics after somehow leaving Hedman and Stralman off the roster and benching Ekman-Larsson. This defense is deeper and more talented -- and has the benefit of time.I just think wee have a little bit more experience, Karlsson said.ddddddddddddMost of the guys that are here played in the Olympics and that was two years ago, and everybody since then has gotten more mature and more experience and become better players, so I think thats why we have a better blue line now than we did two years ago.Henrik Lundqvist, who was a big part of the run in Sochi and who backstopped Sweden to gold at the 2006 Olympics, said it was hard to rate this group against previous ones he has played on. But the New York Rangers goaltender appreciates his countrys proud heritage on defense, which is becoming a national tradition.Its been one of our strengths throughout the years, I think, to have a good D group, Lundqvist said. I think a lot of D-men growing up in Sweden really learn how to read the game well and play the puck well. They dont just dump it in and go. They really try to make plays. I think every time I come to the national team, you get surprised how well they move the puck and pass the puck.Canada has Norris winner Drew Doughty, big Shea Weber and other top NHL players on its blue line, but Sweden has the best group of puck movers in the tournament. The power play was impressive in an exhibition victory against Finland on Saturday, and there is still time to tweak things before Sweden plays its World Cup opener Sunday against Russia.Lundqvist said Sweden is still working on clicking as a unit, which is dangerous for the other seven teams. And there are enough versatile pieces to survive penalties, injuries and for players to be used at their positions of strength.I think everybody on the blue line can do everything, Ekman-Larsson said. Were good skaters, were really good with the puck. Hopefully we can use that in our favor.NOTE: Sweden on Monday named Patrik Berglund of the St. Louis Blues to replace sick forward Rickard Rakell on its roster. Rakell has been hospitalized in Gothenburg, Sweden, with an unspecified illness.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno . ' ' '