One sick sixth

O'S 15, RAYS 6: Tampa Bay allows club-record 12 runs in inning to punchless Baltimore.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published April 12, 2002

BALTIMORE -- It was a good night to turn in early, because the Rays did.

Four innings from a victory that would have produced the best start in their five seasons, the Rays played the worst inning in franchise history.

[AP photo] Rays pitching coach Jackie Brown comforts reliever Jesus Colome, who allowed eight runs in the sixth.

By the time the sixth inning was over, the Rays had given up a team-record 12 runs. They had allowed a team-record 11 hits, including two home runs. They made two errors. They used three pitchers who threw 55 pitches. They were in the field for 37 minutes.

And they turned a 6-3 advantage into a 15-6 loss.

"I feel like we let one get away," Rays manager Hal McRae said. "When we score six runs in a ballgame, we expect to win, especially six runs early."

But after the Rays' uncharacteristic six-run outburst, starter Joe Kennedy let the Orioles stay in the game, allowing a pair of runs to make the score 6-3 after five innings.

Then McRae went to a bullpen that had been extraordinary, and Travis Phelps, Jesus Colome and Steve Kent took it from there.

"I would have bet money that it was over," McRae said. "When we went to the bullpen, I thought we were pretty safe."

Phelps took over to start the sixth and promptly made things worse. He gave up a home run on a 3-and-2 pitch to Geronimo Gil, then another on an 0-and-2 pitch to No. 9 hitter Mike Bordick. After a single and a fly ball that Randy Winn snared at the top of the centerfield wall, manager Hal McRae had seen enough of Phelps.

Next was Colome, and he was worse. Colome faced nine batters, and eight reached base and scored. He didn't exactly get a lot of help. The first batter he faced, David Segui, blooped a ball that fell into short leftfield between leftfielder Jason Tyner, who didn't call for the ball, and shortstop Chris Gomez, who was charging back.

From there, it got ugly: single, double, walk, double, strikeout, single, single, walk.

"Bad day," Colome said.

Next was Kent, and the defense didn't help him as Bobby Smith and Chris Gomez made errors leading to three more runs.

"It was a combination of us not making good pitches, bad defense and a team that had been penned up offensively the first week of the season," Brent Abernathy said.

The Rays had allowed nine runs in an inning three times: to the Indians on April 7, 2000, in a 14-5 loss; to the Red Sox April 18 in a 9-1 loss; and to the Tigers May 18 in an 18-2 loss. Kennedy, the 22-year-old left-hander, had a second straight unimpressive start, leaving after five innings and 94 pitches.

Kennedy, who had trouble in the cold weather at Yankee Stadium last week, had some problems from the start on a chilly night at Camden Yards that felt much colder than the announced game-time temperature of 65 degrees.

He allowed the first three batters to reach, leading to a quick Baltimore run in the first before there was an out. He looked worse the next inning when he fielded Jay Gibbons' easy grounder and nonchalantly threw the ball high and wide of first, pulling Steve Cox off the base.

When the Rays opened their 6-1 lead, it seemed he should have been set. But a leadoff double by Tony Batista and a two-out run-scoring single to Gil gave the Orioles a run in the fourth, and a leadoff single and a walk led to another in the fifth.

A bit out of character, the Rays racked up plenty of runs, six in a three-inning span off Baltimore starter Sidney Ponson.

They got two in the second when Ben Grieve followed Toby Hall's one-out walk with a towering home run to the right side of centerfield.

It was the Rays' first homer in a week, covering 149 at-bats, and it was more than that. It was Grieve's second homer in eight games, one more than he hit in all of April last season on his way to a career-low 11. It also extended a trend that can only be considered odd: Of the six hits Grieve has in 25 at-bats off Ponson, four have been home runs.

The Rays got three in the third when they packaged a couple of hits, a couple of groundouts, a walk and a two-run double by Hall.

They had men on first and second when Cox delivered the first key hit, singling in Tyner. Then with two outs, Hall drove a ball deep to left-center, scoring Winn and Greg Vaughn, who came around from first.

They got one more in the fourth. Abernathy walked, stole second and scored when Smith singled up the middle and centerfielder Gary Matthews misplayed the ball.

The fatal sixth

A play-by-play of the Orioles' 12-run sixth inning:

Travis Phelps pitching; Rays lead 6-3.

1. Geronimo Gil homers to left. Rays 6-4

2. Mike Bordick homers to left. Rays 6-5

3. Jerry Hairston reaches on infield single.

4. Melvin Mora flies out to deep center.

Jesus Colome relieves Phelps. Chris Singleton runs for Hairston.

5. David Segui singles to shallow left, Singleton to second.

6. Jeff Conine singles to left, Singleton scores, Segui to second. Tied at 6

7. Tony Batista singles, Segui scores, Conine to third. Orioles 7-6

8. Gary Matthews walks, Batista to second.

9. Jay Gibbons doubles to right, Conine and Batista score, Matthews to third. Orioles 9-6

10. Gil strikes out.

11. Bordick singles to center, Matthews and Gibbons score. Orioles 11-6

12. Singleton singles to right, Bordick to second.

13. Mora walks, Bordick to third, Singleton to second.

Steve Kent relieves Colome.

14. Segui singles to left, Bordick and Singleton score, Mora to second; Mora to third, Segui to second on third baseman Bobby Smith's throwing error. Orioles 13-6

15. Conine reaches on infield single, Mora scores, Segui to third; Segui scores on shortstop Chris Gomez's throwing error. Orioles 15-6

16. Batista flies out to center.

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