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ST. PETERSBURG -- To say the least, the Devil Rays have had their fair share of interesting circumstances this spring.  Alas, had the Rays not been dealt the hand they've had to play with, they probably wouldn't have started their first winning streak of the season. Yeah, it's only a two-game streak, but a streak's a streak -- and the Rays now find themselves in a five-way tie for first in the American League East.

Wearing their suddenly lucky green tops topped by black hats with green bills, the Rays defeated the Oakland A's, 3-2, in front of an announced crowd of 10,223 on Friday night at Tropicana Field.

"Whatever works," said Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella. "If the green's working, we're going with the green."

Much of the credit for Friday night's win had to go to another Green -- Nick -- as well as to Joey Gathright, two players not in the Devil Rays' plans 10 days ago.

With the score tied at 2, Gathright tripled to lead off the 10th -- flying around the bases in a fashion that had the audacity to suggest he might be faster than the speediest Ray, Carl Crawford.

"When I hit it, I was thinking triple all the way," Gathright said. "Then when it ricocheted off the wall, I was thinking home run first, but the outfielder got the ball back in pretty quick."

Green stepped to the plate after the A's intentionally walked Crawford and dared the diminutive infielder to hit the ball over their drawn-in infield. After taking a miserable hack at Juan Cruz's first offering and missing a bunt, Green punched one over the infield and Gathright walked home with the winning run.

"That at-bat went by so fast," Green said. "The first pitch, I was looking for was a curveball, and it was a high fastball so I took a brutal half swing. Then there was the bunt attempt, or whatever that was. I had to get out of the box to calm myself down. I wasn't having the best of at-bats."

But Green recovered nicely and suddenly the Rays' reconfigured roster looks pretty good.

Roberto Alomar retired March 19, prompting the need to acquire another infielder, which the Devil Rays did by trading for Green on March 31. Meanwhile, Alex Sanchez tested positive for steroids on April 3, and suddenly the Rays needed to place a call down to the farm to recall Gathright from Triple-A Durham.

"He can run," said Piniella referencing Gathright's speed. "It was fun watching him circle those bases in the 10th inning. Our kids battled the whole night."

Green had committed what could have been a costly error in the ninth when he dropped Gathright's throw to third that arrived ahead of the runner. And he made an error in Wednesday's game against the Blue Jays, giving him the look of a player who was pressing, which made his Friday night heroics even better.

"When you come over to a new team, you always want to prove to the guys you can get the job done," Green said. "That's what it was like last year when I got called up by the Braves. I wanted to prove to them I belonged, and it's the same way I feel now."

The 10th-inning heroics were made possible by another solid effort by the Rays' pitching staff.

Rob Bell pitched six strong innings in his first start of the season, allowing two runs while walking two and striking out six. The triumvirate of Casey Fossum, Jesus Colome and Danys Baez kept the A's scoreless the rest of the way, despite two scares.

In the ninth, after Baez relieved Colome with the bases loaded, the Devil Rays' closer enticed the always dangerous Erubiel Durazo to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Baez dodged another jam in the 10th when the A's had runners on the corners with one out and he struck out Nick Swisher before getting Marco Scutaro to fly out to left.

"We had a bunch of chances, but couldn't get the big hit," said A's manager Ken Macha. "It was a well-played game."

Piniella pointed at his pitching for keeping them in the game.

"And we finally pushed one in," said Piniella on a night that saw the Rays strand eight baserunners. "We got out of some ticklish situations as they did. The bottom line is we got one more than they did."

Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.