No lead appears too big for the Rays to squander

RANGERS 11, RAYS 8: After scoring six in first, Tampa Bay falters, then catches up, then blows it again.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published July 5, 2002

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Among their major league-high 54 defeats, the Rays have found plenty of ways to lose this season.

But they hadn't done it like they did in Thursday's 11-8 debacle.

First they went up by six with a team record-tying first inning. Then they gave up eight over the next four innings. Then they scrapped back to tie in the eighth.

And then they lost it by giving up three in the bottom of the eighth, including a first-pitch home run by Rafael Palmeiro that was the Rangers' fifth round-tripper of the night.

"That was a tough one," Steve Cox said. "We played good three games in a row here and ended up going 0-3. Tonight was the toughest one because we jumped out to that big lead, then we came back again, and we just couldn't finish the deal. It was bad."

Bad enough that it matched the second-largest lead they've blown in their history, trailing only the May 7, 1999, game at Cleveland, when they led by eight and lost 20-11.

"It's frustrating because we battled back and we scrapped back but we couldn't hold them off," reliever Travis Harper said.

Worse, they had to play the final two innings without All-Star Randy Winn, who left because of a stomach virus. He hopes to be back in the lineup tonight at Anaheim.

The winning runs came in the eighth off Harper on Palmeiro's home run and a two-run single by Todd Greene.

But the Rays really lost the game in the second and third innings when Wilson Alvarez gave up three-run home runs to Kevin Mench and Ivan Rodriguez and a shot to Alex Rodriguez.

"We let them get back in in the second and third innings, and I thought that was the ballgame," Rays manager Hal McRae said.

After an eight-pitch first inning, Alvarez got a quick groundout to open the second. And then he couldn't get anyone out.

"I didn't have anything," Alvarez said. "I had no fastball. I looked at the radar (readings) a couple times and it was 82-83 (mph). I didn't have any movement. I didn't have anything. And against a lineup like that, to get them out, I have to be good."

Alvarez had had three impressive outings in a row, allowing zero, three and zero runs, and McRae attributed Thursday's performance to the inconsistency a pitcher coming off shoulder surgery goes through.

"He was just flat," McRae said.

Alvarez, whose 2 2/3-inning outing was his shortest since April 1998, said his arm wasn't the problem. "They spotted me six runs in the first inning and they scored eight runs, you're supposed to do whatever you have to do to win the ballgame, and I didn't do it," Alvarez said. "It's going to be a long night for me."

The Rays took the 6-0 lead with a record six first-inning hits. After Winn doubled and Brent Abernathy singled, Cox knocked in the first run, his team-high 16th tying or go-ahead RBI of the season. Toby Hall, who had three hits, cranked a three-run homer to left, and Chris Gomez hit a two-run shot.

"I thought we had something working," McRae said.

The Rangers went up 8-6 when Greene homered off reliever Doug Creek to open the fourth, but Creek didn't allow another hit over the next three innings and the Rays tied it at 8 in the eighth.

Singles by Hall and Gomez put two on with two outs. Dave McCarty, who replaced Winn in the lineup, came back from a 0-and-2 count to draw a walk that loaded the bases. Abernathy then slapped a 2-and-2 pitch to right, driving in two to tie it.

The tie didn't last long. Palmeiro hit Texas' fifth home run of the night, a first-pitch shot off Harper to open the home eighth. After a single, a one-out walk and a wild pitch, Greene ripped a two-run single to right.

"The guys battled," McRae said. "They battled back and Abby drove in two runs to tie the ballgame, and I thought we were in good shape to hold on and win."

Ivan Rodriguez's .406 average against the Rays is the best of any opponent, and his 14 home runs are third-most.

The loss was a team record-tying eighth straight on the road.