Rays show some heart with rally

Down 5-1, Tampa Bay scores four in seventh and eighth, then three in 10th for 8-5 win over Angels.

By KEVIN KELLY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 29, 2002

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Of the many strategies Rays manager Hal McRae has employed to help solve his team's inability to beat left-handed pitching this season, Wednesday's could win the prize for the most creative.

With Jarrod Washburn starting for the Angels at Edison Field, the Rays batting order was a significant departure from the norm.

Rookie leftfielder Carl Crawford moved into the leadoff spot for the first time since being recalled from Triple-A Durham last month. The club's everyday leadoff man, switch-hitting centerfielder Randy Winn, dropped to third to provide protection for left-handed hitting Aubrey Huff.

But guess what? It didn't help ... at least until Washburn was out of the game.

Tampa Bay rallied from a four-run deficit to tie the score in the eighth and won 8-5 in 10 innings before 17,740. It was the 18th extra-inning game this season for the Rays, tops in the majors, and matched their largest comeback this season.

Third baseman Jared Sandberg got the winning double in the 10th. Catcher John Flaherty singled home another run and second baseman Brent Abernathy scored another with a sacrifice fly in the inning.

Sandberg also had a hand in the other four-run comeback this season when he hit a winning homer against the Red Sox on July 23.

The Rays now have a chance to win their first series since late June, having gone 16 consecutive series without doing so. Only the 1997 Phillies went longer (23 straight series).

Washburn did exactly what Jamie Moyer, Andy Pettitte, Ted Lilly and C.C. Sabathia have accomplished against the Rays recently. He outsmarted and slowed them long enough for the Angels offense to grab a lead 5-1 by the sixth inning.

The Rays entered with a .225 team average against left-handers this season and started four players with sub-.200 batting averages against southpaws.

Washburn allowed two hits, a single and double, in the first inning before settling down and retiring 11 consecutive batters before rightfielder Ben Grieve singled with one out in the fifth.

By then, the Angels had taken a 2-0 lead off Rays starter Jorge Sosa.

But Sosa pitched well for the third consecutive outing.

The Rule 5 rookie, a converted outfielder, entered Wednesday's game with a 1.93 ERA, three walks and eight strikeouts in his previous two starts.

He allowed three earned runs on six hits against the Angels and has allowed three runs or fewer in his past three outings.

The third run credited to Sosa scored after Wilson Alvarez came on with one on and two out in the sixth. Alvarez was brought in to face left-handed hitting Adam Kennedy, but he hit the Angels second basemen to put runners on first and third.

Anaheim shortstop David Eckstein then doubled in a, run and two more scored on a throwing error by Rays second baseman Felix Escalona to make it 5-1. It was the third error in two games for Escalona.

The Rays, who scored their first run on a single by Escalona in the fifth, cut it two 5-3 in the seventh when Grieve homered to rightfield on a 1-and-0 pitch.

It was the fourth home run Grieve has hit this road trip, and it forced Washburn out of the game after allowing three runs on six hits.

The Angels brought in three consecutive right-handed relievers as the Rays tied the score at 5 in the eighth on an infield single by Huff and error by Kennedy on the throw to first.