St. Petersburg, Fla. ? Mark Hendrickson is earning the confidence of Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella.

Hendrickson gave up four hits in his second complete game in three starts, and Tampa Bay handed the Kansas City Royals their sixth straight loss, 10-1, Wednesday night.

“I feel good when he goes out there,” Piniella said. “I know we’re going to get a good effort, and he’s going to give a chance to win a ballgame.”

Jose Cruz Jr., Aubrey Huff and Tino Martinez homered for the Devil Rays, who have won two in a row following a six-game losing streak. Tampa Bay hit just 17 homers in the previous 24 games.

Hendrickson (8-8) retired 21 of 22 batters before Tony Graffanino reached on shortstop Julio Lugo’s throwing error with one out in the ninth.

Ken Harvey then drove in Graffanino with an RBI single in the ninth.

Hendrickson threw 117 pitches, striking out five and walking none in his third career complete game. His other complete game this year came July 18 in a 7-2 win against Baltimore.

“The first one I got I think somewhat developed the mind-set that I’m going out there and finish what I started,” Hendrickson said. “I’m most proud of the fact that I pretty much stayed focused. A lot of times those (big lead) games get out of hand. You tend to lose your concentration a little bit.”

The Royals have the worst record (35-64) in the American League and are 7-24 since June 24.

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“It’s very tough to win a ballgame when you didn’t hit and you didn’t pitch,” Kansas City manager Tony Pena said.

Jimmy Gobble (6-8) gave up eight runs and 10 hits in 42/3 innings. He beat Tampa Bay in his first two major-league starts last August, allowing one earned run over 121/3 innings.

“That had to be the worst game he has pitched since he has been in the big leagues,” Pena said. “He pitched behind in the count, and then he just threw a fastball right in the middle of the plate. He got hit hard.”