Zambrano, Rays take step back

RANGERS 7, RAYS 3: Victor Zambrano ties a record with four hit batters in a sloppy Tampa Bay effort.

ST. PETERSBURG - On some days, when they pitch well, field crisply and get clutch hits, the Devil Rays look like they indeed have made progress.

And on other days, like Saturday, when they didn't do any of that in a 7-3 loss to Texas, they look like, well, let's just say they still have a long way to go.

Their problems started with Victor Zambrano, who had a bad night after a solid six-week run that saw him emerge as their most consistent starter, winning four straight decisions and five of six.

Zambrano tied a major-league record by hitting four Texas batters, though it was the hits the Rangers got off him - seven in five innings, four (three doubles) in a five-batter span in the four-run second - that made the difference.

"It's been seven days since he pitched. ... He wasn't real sharp," manager Lou Piniella said. "What did he hit? Four batters? Tied a major-league record? Five innings' worth, too. Imagine if he had gone seven or eight?"

Zambrano, who leads the American League with 12 hit batters, as well as 61 walks and nine wild pitches yet is one of the toughest to hit, said he wasn't trying to hit anybody or do anything different.

"I didn't change anything. My ball had a lot of movement today," he said. "Every game I throw inside. I didn't want to hit anybody."

The Rangers had a few glares and a pitch that was curiously behind the back of Damian Rolls, leading to a warning to both benches, but otherwise took it well.

"I really don't think any of them were intentional," manager Buck Showalter said. "You can tell by the body language. But regardless of intent, it's something you don't like to see."

Of the four batters Zambrano hit, only one, the first, led to a run.

But it was the start of something.

He hit Juan Gonzalez to open a 33-pitch second, then gave up doubles to Mark Teixeira and Doug Glanville. An out later, Einar Diaz looped a single that dropped in front of Marlon Anderson, whose first regular-season appearance in leftfield, a result of Carl Crawford's three-game suspension, wasn't a pretty one. After Michael Young's double, Diaz scored on a sacrifice fly Anderson caught leaping against the wall, making it 4-0.

Zambrano recovered enough to get through the fifth, his shortest outing since his first of the season, but was never really effective.

"He just had a tough day," catcher Javier Valentin. "It happens."

The Rays made a game of it, cutting the gap to 4-3 in the third, getting a single from Valentin and doubles from Julio Lugo and impressive rookie Antonio Perez, but that was as close as they got.

One of two errors by Lugo, who reported a kink in his back, led to an eighth-inning insurance run, and another poor inning by Jesus Colome (25 pitches, three hits, two runs) made it 7-3 in the ninth. Offensively, the Rays didn't get a runner to second base after the fourth, hit into three double plays and left six men on base. (The Rangers left 13 on).

"It wasn't a pretty game," Piniella said. "All those hit batters and the errors, we left a lot of men on base, the double plays. ... "

In other words, as has happened often in a season where they have won as many as three in a row only once and two in a row only six other times, they followed a good outing (Friday's crisp 2-0 win) with a bad one.

"You'd like to see some carryover," Piniella said. "What can I say?"