Ah, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Just what a struggling club full of stars needs to get back into contention for a playoff berth.

New York had 25 hits, reaching 20 in consecutive games for the first time in team history in a 21–4 rout of the Devil Rays yesterday. On Saturday, the Yankees had 20 in a 17–5 win that finished off a day-night doubleheader sweep.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “Even in batting practice you don’t get hits every time you swing the bat.”

Shelley Duncan homered twice, including a three-run drive that capped a 10-run fourth inning, and Alex Rodriguez, batting with sunglasses on a sunny afternoon, hit his major league-leading 34th homer and No. 498 of his career. Hideki Matsui, Bobby Abreu and Robinson Cano also homered to give the Yankees hit six home runs in a game for the first time in two years. Matsui tied his regular-season high with five hits, and every Yankees starter had a hit, a run and an RBI. Rodriguez pushed his big league-leading RBIs total to 99 in 97 games plus the suspended contest against Baltimore.

The Yankees, a season-best five games over .500 and 7 1/2 games behind AL East-leading Boston, took three of four from the Devil Rays, hitting .408 in the series with 49 runs, 62 hits, and 11 homers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Yankees franchise never previously had 20-hit games back-to-back.

“I think after a doubleheader it was impressive,” Rodriguez said. “After a doubleheader, I was wondering how we were going to respond.”

New York is 9–3 since the All-Star break, playing two series with Tampa Bay around one with Toronto, and is scheduled for 16 more games against teams with losing records before a trip to Cleveland on August 10.

“When you have a big day like this, you can’t feel content,” Shelley said.

With the score 3-all, New York broke open the game with 10 runs in the fourth. Cano tripled leading off, and the Yankees made it 10–3 on six RBI singles and a throwing error by catcher Dioner Navarro. “After we got a couple of runs to get back in it, we were talking about putting up a zero in that inning,” Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said.

Duncan’s first homer came off reliever Casey Fossum and made it 13-3, and his second was a leadoff drive in the sixth. Music from “The Natural” played as Duncan rounded the bases.

“It’s a crazy experience,” Shelley said. “You kind of get frozen in the moment.” When he came to bat with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, he was greeted with chants of “Shel-ley! Shel-ley!”

Andy Pettitte (6–6) won his 12th straight decision against the Devil Rays, improving to 13–1 against the Devil Rays.