Rays get help from new source

Tampa Bay defeats Anaheim 3-1 as Jeremi Gonzalez allows one run in six innings for his first win since June 28, 1998.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Devil Rays might have found themselves a pitching ace. And it might be the last pitcher in the world one would've expected.

Jeremi Gonzalez once was a hot-shot prospect for the Cubs, but after being on the business end of a surgical knife more times than an athlete is supposed to, Gonzalez's career seemed headed for a crying shame.

Arm surgery in 1998. Tommy John surgery in 1999. Knee surgery in 2000. But Gonzalez's journey took a dramatically positive turn Friday night when he led the Rays to a 3-1 victory over the world champion Angels before 37,902 at Edison Field.

Making just his second major-league appearance since his body started breaking down in 1998, Gonzalez pitched six innings of one-run, two-hit ball to win his first game since June 28, 1998.

With the ball from the last out sitting in his locker after the game, Gonzalez teared up when he said he would give it to his mother back home in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

"I thought about (quitting) after my last surgery," Gonzalez said. "But I kept playing for my family. My family is why I am here today. ... I'm just proud of myself. ... It's impossible for me to feel much better right now."

Gonzalez, coming off an impressive but hard-luck loss Saturday in his first major-league appearance in five years (a span of 1,758 days), allowed only Adam Kennedy's homer in the third and Scott Spiezio's single in the fourth.

He left after six innings and 106 pitches with the Rays leading 2-1. Gonzalez walked five but also struck out five in what catcher Toby Hall called "an outstanding performance."

As the game crawled through the seventh and eighth innings Gonzalez, 28, said he didn't think about getting the victory that had eluded him so many years. But then came the ninth.

"And, yeah, I started to think about getting a win," Gonzalez said. "It's been such a long time. Almost five years. I started to realize that."

Gonzalez gained the victory behind an offense led by rookie Rocco Baldelli.

The subject of a three-page article in the current issue of Sports Illustrated, Baldelli snapped out of the worst slump of his brief career to give the Rays an early lead.

Baldelli went 0-for-13 during a three-game series at Texas, the first time he played three consecutive games without a hit. In the first two games of that series, Baldelli hit in the cleanup spot, something that is not expected to happen again.

Baldelli batted third Friday, and wouldn't you know it, responded with cleanup-like power. After a single in the first to snap his slump, Baldelli hit his third homer of the season to center in the third inning to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. He ended up with a career-high four hits.

Carl Crawford and Jared Sandberg drove in the go-ahead runs. And made Gonzalez the star.

"Five years is a long time," Rays manager Lou Piniella said of Gonzalez. "You got to want it, that's for sure. You got to have a lot of tenacity in you and at the same time a lot of patience. But it's working out just fine for him and for us."