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Late Inning Sacrifice Leads To Rays Victory

The Associated Press

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Matt Garza reacts after the Seattle Mariners scored during the second inning.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 10, 2008

Updated: 08/10/2008 01:18 pm

No champagne corks were popped, and no handshakes were exchanged beyond the usual post-victory lineup on the field.

For as intriguing as the Rays' 8-7 victory over the Mariners in 11 innings Saturday night was in the way it came together, the fact that it nudged the franchise further into uncharted territory was merely a footnote to those who achieved it.

With 46 games remaining in the regular season – a distinction that carries relevance in Tampa Bay for the first time – the Rays have matched their highest win total for any campaign. And their 70-46 mark looks a heck of a lot better than that 70-92 showing in 2004 that previously represented the best the Rays had to offer.

What did reaching that elusive plateau mean to the Rays?

"Nothing," Dioner Navarro said flatly. "Just keep winning."

That was Manager Joe Maddon's message, as well.

"We have to keep blazing new trails. We have to set the bar even higher," said Maddon. "Of course that was the win number that has been stuck in infamy within this organization, and it was not necessarily a goal – I don't want to make 70 wins a goal – but it's nice to get past that. Then we can stop talking about that and truly do what you're here to do and that's to win a pennant, and that requires over 90 wins."

The Rays are on pace for 98 of them, and their ability to pull out games like this one is ample reason to keep them from being satisfied with what they have accomplished thus far.

Not only did the Rays rally from an early five-run deficit to take the lead, they also managed to go back on top in extra innings after seeing the Mariners post a rally of their own to tie it up.

The winning run was about as manufactured as it gets, coming without the benefit of a hit. After a breathtaking escape from the bottom of the 10th by the visitors, Ben Zobrist led off the 11th by drawing a walk against Miguel Batista. He stole second on a hit-and-run play, then moved to third on a Willy Aybar groundout before coming home on a Dioner Navarro sacrifice fly.

"Just a bunch of little things, and I think that kind of epitomized our night tonight," said Zobrist.
Troy Percival came on for the bottom half, setting down the Mariners in order to preserve the victory for new acquisition Chad Bradford after he labored through 39 pitches in his two-inning Rays debut. It took four hours, 26 minutes to get it done, but the Rays finally did it.

"It doesn't get much more wild than that," said Maddon.

At just about any point in Rays history, pre-2008, a 5-1 deficit heading to the sixth inning on the road might as well have been an invitation to write the game off as "just one of those days" and move on to tomorrow.

Not anymore. With two outs and the bases empty in the sixth and Mariners starter Ryan Rowland-Smith untouched aside from Gabe Gross' leadoff homer in the third inning, the Rays mounted a rally that wiped away all the difficulties Matt Garza had endured in the early going.

Aybar started it with a double, which was followed by a Navarro walk and an infield single by Gross. Mariners manager Jim Riggleman went to the bullpen at that point, summoning lefty Cesar Jimenez for the top of the Rays' order. Let's just say it didn't work out for the home side.

Akinori Iwamura greeted Jimenez with an infield single that scored Aybar, B.J. Upton raised with a two-run double and Carl Crawford put the Rays on top 6-5 with a hustle double of his own, sliding in just ahead of the tag at second base. Carlos Pena then brought home Crawford with a sharp single to right but was thrown out with little trouble in an ill-advised attempt to stretch for second.

"That six-run inning was big, obviously," said Maddon. "We did some nice work there."

The breakout inning wiped the slate clean for Garza, who had been giving up rockets left and right and was fortunate to make it out of the third inning. Ichiro Suzuki yanked Garza's second pitch of the game over the wall in right to open the game for the Mariners, who would push across another run in the first.

It didn't get any better for Garza in the second, as the first four batters collected hits and three more runs came home – one of them on a double-play grounder by Jeremy Reed that helped the right-hander limit further damage.

Garza then surrendered a single and double to open the third and it looked like his evening might be nearing an end, but he found his way out of that jam and ended up hanging around long enough to watch the Rays put together their big rally.

"We fell behind and Garza didn't give up," said Navarro. "He just kept going out there and battling and battling and he gave us a shot."

At that point, Garza stood to be the unlikely victor, but it didn't last. After J.P. Howell and Grant Balfour took care of the rest of the sixth and the seventh, Dan Wheeler came on to start the eighth.

The reliever who has been nearly untouchable all season seems to have lost his mojo at Safeco Field. Two days after surrendering a walk-off homer in the series opener, Wheeler allowed back-to-back doubles to Bryan LaHair and pinch-hitter Jeff Clement to open the inning, then saw Ichiro tie the game with a one-out single.

But Wheeler got the second out, Trever Miller came on for the third and it was on to the ninth with the game up for grabs.

The Rays squandered opportunities to take the lead in both the ninth and 10th against J.J. Putz. They put the go-ahead run in scoring position with one out in the ninth, but Aybar flied out and Navarro popped out in foul territory. What transpired in the 10th was far more discouraging, though.

After striking out Gross to open the inning, Putz walked the bases loaded for Pena. But the cleanup hitter immediately went down 0-2 in the count before striking out, and Eric Hinske saw the inning come to a frustrating end when shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt skied to grab a liner off his bat and end the inning.

Not long after, it appeared the 10th would represent the Rays' last chance. Bradford allowed hits to the first two men he faced in the bottom half, and after an out was recorded on a fielder's choice to move the winning run to third, the Rays intentionally walked Raul Ibanez to load the bases.

With Adrian Beltre at the plate, Upton came in from center field to become the fifth infielder, essentially standing on second base as the Rays looked for the double-play grounder anywhere they could get it. They finally got it at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat. After Beltre fouled off five straight pitches – "It seemed like 25," said Bradford – he chopped one toward Aybar. The third baseman went home for the first out and Navarro's relay to first was in time to keep the Rays alive.

"I think that was the hardest play I ever made," said Navarro, "because I knew, OK, I cannot throw it too much this way because I might throw it away, and I cannot throw it too much this way because I might hit him. But I know the rule – if I hit him, he might be out. So I threw it just enough to go by him and Carlos to catch it."

Bradford liked what he saw.

"Aybar and Navarro, they did a great job of turning it," said the reliever. "I was just hoping he'd hit it right at somebody, and he did, so it worked out."

In the process, the newest Ray had a taste of what he has gotten himself into.

"Bradford was feeling the heat," Navarro said with a satisfied smile. "Good game."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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