Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JAYS 14, RAYS 7: Toronto scores seven runs off Ryan Rupe in the third, offsetting Ben Grieve's two homers.
By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 13, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- Nineteen runs in two painfully looonnnggg innings.
The circumstances were different Friday at Tropicana Field, but the result was the same as a big inning by a Rays opponent wrecked a potential victory.
"We're out of synch right now," manager Hal McRae said.
On Thursday, it was a 12-run sixth inning fueled by sloppy play that erased a 6-3 lead and led to a 15-6 loss.
Friday?
"It was like an extended version of the sixth inning (in Baltimore)," Rays rightfielder Ben Grieve said.
A seven-run, seven-hit third inning by Toronto forced Tampa Bay to play from behind the rest of the game.
And though Grieve had his first multi-homerun game since June 1999, the Rays teased, poked and generally agitated an announced crowd of 11,058 for nearly four hours by making a comeback before losing 14-7.
Tampa Bay has lost five of six after sweeping the Tigers to open the season.
"The thought that we can win every time we show up at the field is still in our heads," second baseman Brent Abernathy said. "That's the first hurdle you've got to get over.
"It's a matter of putting everything together all at once, pitching, defense and offense.
The Rays certainly have scored enough in the past two games to win (13 runs).
But it doesn't help when a pitching staff allows 29 runs on 34 hits and walks 15.
Ryan Rupe, who started for the first time in eight days, lasted five innings and allowed eight runs on nine hits.
He walked two and struck out six.
The quartet of relievers who followed, Travis Phelps, Doug Creek, Victor Zambrano and Jorge Sosa, allowed a combined six runs on seven hits and walked seven in four innings. "If we can continue to put up runs and put them up early, I like our chances," McRae said. "We are going to pitch better. We have a much better pitching staff than we've shown the last couple of games."
Rupe, who pitched seven shutout innings against the Tigers on April 4, cruised through the first two innings against Toronto.
The third, however, was a different story.
He walked the first batter before allowing five consecutive singles and a three-run homer to Carlos Delgado.
Jose Cruz singled before Rupe retired three in a row to end the inning.
Delgado has hit more home runs against the Rays (13) than any other player, and his 42 RBIs are third behind Manny Ramirez (45) and Jason Giambi (46).
"The hardest thing as a starting pitcher is when you get the loss and you've scored seven," he said. "It's a tough feeling. Any given day, that's what you pray for. They spotted me a pretty good lead at the beginning. That one inning I tumbled."
Rupe's outing was softened by the comeback.
It began when the first two batters in the third, Jason Tyner and Randy Winn, bunted their way on base and later scored.
Grieve, who led off the second with an opposite-field homer, led off the fourth with a homer to right-centerfield.
It was followed by a Bobby Smith double.
Toronto pitcher Justin Miller, making his major-league debut, replaced Blue Jays starter Brian Cooper and hit the first two batters he faced.
With the bases loaded and one out, Winn's fly to centerfield allowed Smith to tag from third to cut it to 7-6. Grieve has homered in consecutive games, getting both Friday on full counts off Cooper.
He didn't hit his third home run in 2001 until May 26, his fourth until June 12.
"Didn't matter too much, though," Grieve said.
The Blue Jays scored one more in the fifth and six more off Doug Creek and Victor Zambrano in the seventh and eighth.
"A rough two days," McRae said. "We were pitching well and not scoring, not swinging the bats well.
"Now we're swinging the bats well and we're not pitching. Maybe that changes (today) with (Tanyon) Sturtze on the mound."