ANGELS 6, RAYS 4: A late rally doesn't make up for a poorly played game that leads to a rotation shuffle.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
Published August 19, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella didn't try to sugarcoat anything, didn't try to sell that the final score was a real indication of how his team played.
Tampa Bay lost 6-4 to the Angels Wednesday night in front of 10,731 at Tropicana Field. It even mounted a three-run rally in the ninth and had the winning run at the plate with two outs.
Still, Piniella told it like it was after the Rays' seventh loss in their past eight games.
"It wasn't too good," he said.
Tampa Bay managed just three hits (one an infield hit) and two runs off Bartolo Colon, who struck out five in 82/3 innings to improve to 7-0 against the Rays.
This is the guy who entered the game second in the league with 30 home runs allowed. But it also is the guy who threw 94 mph in the ninth inning and got a nice ovation from the fans behind the Angels dugout as he left with the score 6-1 and Jose Cruz on first base.
Conversely, Tampa Bay starter Mark Hendrickson lasted just three innings and allowed six runs, five earned, with two strikeouts and three walks to lose his fourth consecutive start and his spot in the rotation.
Piniella said the left-hander, 8-12, will miss his start Monday in Seattle and be put at the end of the rotation. That would seem to clear the way for the callup of lefty Scott Kazmir, who has been strong for Double-A Montgomery since being acquired from the Mets in the Victor Zambrano deal.
"Hendrickson the last two or three starts hasn't been good at all," Piniella said. "He hasn't been very sharp and he's been getting hit. We're going to skip his next turn, rest his arm a little bit."
The Ray made three errors (one each by catcher Toby Hall, first baseman Aubrey Huff and shortstop B.J. Upton), and though they resulted in just one unearned run, they contributed to the game's sloppy feel.
Upton extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single, and Frankie Nunez, Lance Carter and Bobby Seay combined for six scoreless innings of relief.
But the story was Colon, whose parents flew in from the Dominican Republic for the game and who allowed just two runners to reach second.
"He was coming right after us," Rays third baseman Jorge Cantu said. "He was challenging us with his fastball. That was the main thing; he was trying to get us out right away, getting that fastball over with the first and second pitch."
Colon left the game because of a sore right ankle sustained in the eighth inning when he covered first base on Joey Gathright's infield hit.
"I was thinking, "God, please help me get this complete game,' " Colon (12-9) said. "My mom and dad are here and they're going back (today)."
Still, the Rays rallied against reliever Francisco Rodriguez, who clearly did not have his best stuff.
The righty walked Hall, and Geoff Blum's single scored Cruz. Cantu's two-run double made it 6-4. Pinch-hitter Tino Martinez walked. But with two on and two outs, Carl Crawford grounded to second to end the game.
"I didn't come through," Crawford said. "I came in confident I was about to get a hit. I just didn't do it. That's the way it is sometimes."
Especially when, as Piniella said, "We didn't do much."
