ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.(AP) The Tampa Bay Rays gladly took a break.

Pinch hitter Willy Aybar got a lucky bounce, doubling off the third base bag in the eighth inning, and the Rays completed a sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 5-4 victory on Sunday.

``It's unusual to see that. I'll take it,'' manager Joe Maddon said after Tampa Bay's fifth straight win.

Carlos Pena opened the eighth with a double off Ron Villone (3-3). After Ben Zobrist struck out, Aybar hit a ball down the line that nicked the bag and angled away from third baseman Willie Harris into left field for the go-ahead hit.

``I think he would have made that play easy,'' Pena said. ``I had to freeze, then I saw the ball take a weird hop.''

Said Washington manager Manny Acta: ``I think what preceded that was more important than complaining about breaks.''

Gabe Kapler homered in his third straight game and drove in three runs for Tampa Bay. Dan Wheeler (2-1) worked a perfect eighth and J.P. Howell pitched the ninth for his third save.

``Collectively as a team, I want to us to enjoy the moment,'' Kapler said. ``It was an enjoyable day.''

The Rays' bullpen has not given up a run in its last 22 1-3 innings. Tampa Bay has 17 comeback wins this season, including all three games with Washington.

``When you've had a bit of success in the past, you kind of expect to win it somehow,'' Maddon said. ``That's helped us the past few days.

Alberto Gonzalez drove in three runs for the Nationals, who have lost 15 of 18. Washington has been swept in seven series this year.

``We win as a team and we lose as a team,'' Acta said. ``We haven't played the way we were expected to play. We're all accountable for what's going on.''

Tampa Bay, which was down 4-0, tied it at 4 on Kapler's two-run homer in the sixth.

Kapler had a tiebreaking, pinch-hit home run n the eighth inning of the Rays' 4-3 win Friday night. He didn't hit any homers in his first 34 games this season.

Gonzalez put the Nationals ahead 1-0 on an RBI single in the second. He hit a two-run double off James Shields in a three-run fourth that made it 4-0.

``It's just tough for us,'' Harris said. ``There's really no excuse for it. All you can do is go out there and put forth you best effort and see what happens. We're all trying.''

Tampa Bay got within 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth on Kapler's RBI single and a run-scoring sacrifice bunt by Dioner Navarro.

Shields gave up four runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings. Washington rookie Ross Detwiler allowed four runs, six hits and five walks over six innings.

The AL champion Rays are three games over .500 for the first time this year.

``You stink together through those tough times like we did early, you're going to have a little shine here,'' Howell said. ``We kind of see the light and know that if we keep going we're going to have a pretty good push here.''

NOTES: Harris ran into a Nationals bullpen catcher while chasing Zobrist's foul ball in the eighth. ... Tampa Bay LF Carl Crawford was rested, but did enter as a pinch runner in the eighth. ... Washington LHP Scott Olsen (left shoulder tendinitis) allowed two runs and four hits over three innings in a minor league rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse. ... There has been at least one homer hit in all 33 games this season at Tropicana Field. The only other park in the majors to have a homer streak since from opening day is Yankee Stadium (32 games).