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Rays Pay For Miscues

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St. Louis Cardinals' Skip Schumaker watches his ninth inning walk-off RBI double to score Jason LaRue.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 19, 2008

Updated: 05/19/2008 12:06 am

ST. LOUIS - If there has been a central theme to the best start in Rays history, it is that they generally haven't beaten themselves. Self-destruction, a staple of Tampa Bay baseball for so long, has been largely absent this year - at least until this weekend.

A day after giving away a game on the base paths, the Rays handed the Cardinals all the base runners they needed to secure a 5-4 victory Sunday as four of the five men that eventually crossed the plate for St. Louis reached base on a walk.

Six Rays pitchers dished out a total of 10 free passes (one was intentional and all came from the fifth inning on), a season high and a significant departure from the way Tampa Bay had been pitching - particularly in that none of the relievers called upon could stop the slide.

In the wake of their first series loss since being swept in Boston two weeks ago, the Rays headed to Oakland on Sunday night determined to brush off the mistakes that led to consecutive walk-off losses and dropped them out of first place.

"I'm not concerned at all," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "What we saw the last two days, it just happens. We did a much better job on the bases today, running-wise, and again we played good defense. The walk hurt us today, big-time."

Walks were at the center of nearly every step the Cardinals took to rally from a 3-0 sixth-inning deficit and win on Skip Schumaker's double over the outstretched glove of Carl Crawford with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Backup catcher Jason LaRue crossed the plate with the winning run after Gary Glover walked him to open the ninth.

The base on balls issued to LaRue, who raised his average from .114 to .132 with a hit during Sunday's game, was among the more egregious mistakes committed by Rays pitchers, though hardly the only one.

The bottom of the eighth began with the Rays holding a 4-2 lead after Crawford homered leading off the top half, but Dan Wheeler immediately squandered whatever momentum that might have generated by walking pinch-hitter Brendan Ryan on four pitches.

Maddon summoned Trever Miller from the bullpen and he delivered four straight balls to Cesar Izturis - the third walk in four innings for a ninth-place hitter with a .297 slugging percentage. Schumaker then bunted Ryan and Izturis into scoring position and Aaron Miles singled to bring both home and tie the game.

"You can't walk guys," Wheeler said. "We're all guilty of it today and that's what happens - when you walk guys, you put guys on base, you lose games."

Though all of the relievers, who also included J.P. Howell and Al Reyes, walked at least one batter, Maddon didn't see any common thread.

"I have no solid explanation," he said. "I thought the strike zone was fair, so we can't say that we were getting squeezed at all. ... We were just missing. We have been strike-throwers - it was just one of those days and I'm sure it'll go away very quickly. They were very patient today."

The Cards lead the majors in walks by a healthy margin this season but hadn't drawn 10 in a game since Sept. 23, 2003. Given the opportunity to get back in the game, though, they were happy to take it.

Edwin Jackson got things rolling in the fifth, issuing the first two walks of the game on his way to escaping a bases-loaded jam, but two more free passes to the first two batters of the sixth proved his undoing.

The Rays actually did a decent job of damage control, all things considered, as the Cardinals left the bases loaded to end the fifth, sixth and eighth innings and stranded 14 men. But they left just enough of an opening for St. Louis to exploit.

"We let that one get away from us," Miller said. "It's all on us."

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

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