Rays slosh to strange, wet win

Tampa Bay catches break when winning run trips rounding third, then waits through rain delay before beating Marlins 4-3 in 14.

By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 15, 2002

MIAMI -- The potential winning run, who will double as Florida's starting pitcher Sunday, tripped while rounding third base in the 12th inning.

A game that began 38 minutes late Friday because of rain was on its way to being the quickest contest in either club's history before the Rays tied it with two outs in the ninth inning at Pro Player Stadium.

The festivities started there ... and ended only a few hours ago.

Seriously.

Rays rightfielder Ben Grieve doubled in the go-ahead run in the 14th inning to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead before a steady downpour stopped the game at 11:12 p.m. before the Marlins had a chance to bat.

The game started again 66 minutes later and ended with Rays reliever Travis Harper getting his first professional save 3 hours, 36 minutes after the first pitch.

That was after the Marlins ran out of defensive replacements. After Rays relievers Victor Zambrano and Esteban Yan walked seven batters in four innings yet allowed only one run. After Rays third baseman Aubrey Huff hit a pair of identical singles up the middle to keep the Rays alive.

After nearly all of the announced 9,580 fans, who actually numbered much fewer, had had enough and left.

"They have games like this on the senior circuit," Rays manager Hal McRae said. "It was fun; I enjoyed myself thoroughly."

The Marlins loaded the bases in the 11th against Zambrano, who walked five in two innings. He struck out two to end the inning.

The Rays scored in the 12th on a single by Brent Abernathy, but Florida came back and tied it in the bottom of the inning when pitcher/pinch-hitter Michael Tejera got his first major-league hit.

It scored Eric Owens to tie at 3. But Tejera later tripped over third on his way to scoring the potential winning run on a single to left by Mike Redmond. He was left stranded.

"For a while I thought it was going to start late and figured it would get over late," Grieve said. "Then about the eighth inning we were on a better pace, so I was thinking I would get home early, have some time to watch TV. Next thing you know it's 12 o'clock and everybody's a little bit tired and sluggish. But at least we won."

Almost forgotten in the thrill of free baseball in the midst of a tropical disturbance was a tremendous effort by Rays starter Tanyon Sturtze and the extension of Florida second baseman Luis Castillo's major-league-leading hitting streak, now at 29 games.

Sturtze pitched a gem -- 9 innings, 2 runs, 3 hits, a career-high 8 strikeouts -- but still hasn't won since October.

Though he doesn't have a victory to show for it, Sturtze's past two outings have been among his best as a major-leaguer. He has allowed four earned runs while striking out 12 and walking four in 18 innings.

"I've gone 18 innings in two starts and (allowed) four runs," Sturtze said. "There's not much more I can do."

Marlins starter Julian Tavarez allowed one hit through the first three innings, a double by Grieve in the second, and received much help from his defense.

The Rays grounded into four inning-ending double plays, tying a Marlins club record, by the sixth inning.

Tampa Bay did score first, however, after Randy Winn led off the fourth inning with a double. He scored on a double by leftfielder Greg Vaughn to make it 1-0.

Florida countered in the bottom half when Castillo singled to left-centerfield and came home on a two-out double by Mike Lowell.

Sturtze then retired nine straight and reached seven strikeouts for the game by getting Derrek Lee to end the seventh.

The Marlins took a 2-1 lead in the eighth.

Kevin Millar led off with a single to leftfield and was replaced at first base by pinch-runner Owens, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Charles Johnson.

The Rays tied in the ninth on a single by Huff that bounded just out of reach of a diving Castillo.

Vaughn, who became the second leadoff hitter to get a hit off Marlins closer Vladimir Nunez this season, scored and Huff was thrown out trying to take second.