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Rays Come Through Again, 7-6 In 12 Innings

The Associated Press

Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena hits a solo home run off Oakland reliever Santiago Casilla in the 12th inning.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 15, 2008

Updated: 08/15/2008 12:11 am

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Rays keep taking punches, but nothing has managed to knock them down yet.

Finishing off their first series without two star players, the Rays lost another Thursday afternoon in the course of a wild 7-6 victory against the A's that took 12 innings to wind to a conclusion.

A decision on whether Troy Percival will join Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria on the disabled list will come today, but the closer's prospects didn't look good after he sprained his right knee on a bunt play in the ninth inning. Then again, if he does head to the shelf for the third time this season, the Rays hardly will blink.

"The thing for us is, we have to believe that no matter who's on the field, we can get it done," said Cliff Floyd. "That's the only thing we've got."

The Rays used just about everyone they had to pull out their latest victory, tying a team record by running eight different pitchers to the mound and seeing Rocco Baldelli and Justin Ruggiano make huge plays off the bench.

All their hard work finally paid off in the 12th, but as usual it wasn't easy. Carlos Pena hit Santiago Casilla's first pitch of the inning way out to right for his 23rd homer, giving the Rays their second lead of the game. Crucially, they were able to add to it. Floyd followed with a double and Dioner Navarro brought him around to score his fourth run with a two-out single.

Oakland got one of those runs - albeit unearned - back on Jason Hammel in the bottom half. The third inning of work for the Rays' long reliever began with an error by Jason Bartlett, and Emil Brown ultimately would score when Kurt Suzuki hit into a big double play. Trever Miller entered the game at that point and hit Daric Barton with a pitch before getting Rob Bowen to ground out to end it.

"That was definitely going to be a drama-filled ending," said Hammel. "I tried to make it as interesting as possible without killing myself."

The proceedings got that far only because of a see-saw ninth, in which the Rays claimed their first lead of the game as B.J. Upton's double off Brad Ziegler scored Akinori Iwamura from first after he had singled. It was the first run allowed by the A's reliever in his big-league career, and the 39-inning scoreless streak it snapped tied the Indians' Al Benton for the longest by a reliever. You may not have heard of Benton because he assembled his streak in 1949.

The minuscule McAfee Coliseum crowd gave Ziegler a standing ovation after the Rays scored the go-ahead run, and karma suggested the visitors were in good shape after finding a way to touch up the untouchable.

But Percival's balky legs had other ideas. Grant Balfour had to come on after he was forced to leave the game with one out and the tying run on second in the ninth. Balfour struck out Carlos Gonzalez, but Frank Thomas ushered in extra innings with a solid single to right.

The Rays didn't let down from there, though. Hammel came on and saw the A's put someone on base each of the final three innings, but he kept them off the board until he had a run to work with in the 12th.

"Momentum shifted and we were able to maintain and stay focused and stay poised and come out of some tough situations there defensively, and then eventually we were able to put some runs on the board," said Pena.

About the only blemish for the Rays was a rough five-inning start turned in by James Shields. Well, he had a different word for it: "I was terrible today."

Shields walked a career-high five batters, including three in the second inning to match his highest walk total for any single game this season. He had handed out just 25 free passes in 24 starts this year before Thursday.

That was about it, though. The Rays managed to keep things steady with an RBI double and triple from Willy Aybar, then tied the game in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Ruggiano as he pinch-hit for Eric Hinske.

"This was a great effort," said Baldelli, who had a couple of stellar defensive plays in right field. "Everyone that was called upon got the job done, and we didn't give up, we didn't give in, when they came back and put some runs on the board."

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

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