St. Petersburg, Fla. ? The Tampa Bay Devil Rays took a big step toward a modest goal.

Jorge Cantu hit a go-ahead, two-run double during a five-run eighth inning to help Tampa Bay beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4, Tuesday night.

Jose Cruz had four hits, including a two-run homer for the Devil Rays, who need to go 6-7 the rest of the year for their first 70-win season.

“It feels good to smile after a ballgame,” Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella said after the Devil Rays stopped a five-game home losing streak. “It was a nice win.”

Cantu made it 5-4 on his drive to left-center field off Shawn Camp (2-1), and Carl Crawford and Cruz followed with RBI singles off Jaime Cerda.

“All I wanted to do was hit the ball hard,” Cantu said. “It’s amazing what can happen when you hit the ball really hard. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Rocco Baldelli had pulled the Devil Rays to 4-3 on a solo homer earlier in the eighth off Dennys Reyes.

Mark Hendrickson (9-15) allowed one unearned run in two innings, and Danys Baez pitched the ninth for his 28th save in 30 chances.

Hendrickson, who recently was dropped from the rotation, ended a seven-game losing streak with his first win since July 28.

Zack Greinke was looking to became the first Kansas City rookie to win nine games in a season since Rusty Meacham (10) and Hipolito Pichardo (nine) in 1992.

Greinke allowed two runs and eight hits in 62/3 innings, striking out seven.

“He’s impressive,” Piniella said. “Really poised. He changed speeds. You know what, it looked like he was having fun out there.”

Greinke is 6-2 in his last 10 starts.

“I’ll tell you what … they really impressed me,” Greinke said of the Devil Rays. “Those guys were making adjustments. I had to change my philosophy.”

David DeJesus hit a solo homer for the Royals, who went ahead 1-0 on Donnie Murphy’s run-scoring double in the second. It was the first career RBI for Murphy, who was called up from Class-A Wilmington last Friday.

Cruz hit a two-run homer in the third for a 2-1 lead, but DeJesus’ homer tied it in the fifth.

“Anytime you can contribute to a win, it’s definitely a satisfactory feeling,” Cruz said.

Kansas City took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on Alberto Castillo’s RBI single. He has driven in six runs over his last five games.