RAYS 4, JAYS 1: Dribbler. Wild pitch. Another balk. Not a conventional offense, but good enough to win.
By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published May 13, 2006
[Times photo: James Borchuck]
Carl Crawford broke his bat in the fifth inning. He didn't need a bat on the next pitch, as Toronto's Casey Janssen threw a wild pitch to allow a run.
ST. PETERSBURG - The Devil Rays figure their bats eventually have to heat up again, and with a .204 average over their last 22 games, that's probably a safe bet.
But until then, they figure they might as well be creative.
Friday, they scored on an 15-foot dribbler by slugger Jonny Gomes. They scored on a balk by Toronto rookie starter Casey Janssen. They scored when Joey Gathright ran a stop-and-go route around third. And they scored on a wild pitch.
Add in a good-but-not-great start by Seth McClung and some blazing relief work by Ruddy Lugo and Tyler Walker, and it added up to a 4-1 victory over the Blue Jays before 11,186 at Tropicana Field.
"We pulled some tricks out of our back pocket today," Gomes said.
As odd a night as it was, it could have been even more so. Gomes lofted a blast to leftfield in the sixth that struck and then rattled around the B-ring catwalk. Leftfielder Frank Catalanotto appeared to have it tracked near the wall, but it changed direction so much that - 111/2 seconds later - shortstop John McDonald ended up making the catch in shallow leftfield.
Gomes stood on third base and signaled for a home run, but the umpiring crew, which an inning earlier had ejected Toronto manager John Gibbons and hitting coach Mickey Brantley for arguing from the dugout, got it right. Under Tropicana Field ground rules, balls that strike the top two catwalks in fair territory are in play, which means if McDonald hadn't caught it Gomes may have instead had an inside-the-park homer.
"We had a shortstop rob a home run - you don't see that very often," Gomes said.
The Rays got two runs in the first off Janssen, who last season was pitching for Class-A Dunedin. Julio Lugo, in his first two-hit game since being activated from the disabled list May 5, singled and Carl Crawford doubled.
Gomes ranks second in the league with 12 homers, but he got the run in with a ball that barely cleared the dirt circle on front of home plate. Crawford moved to third, and he scored when Janssen was called for a balk on a 1-and-1 pitch.
The Rays are getting that balk play down, having scored the only run in Wednesday's 1-0 win at Seattle that way.
"I think we lead the league in runs scored on balks," manager Joe Maddon said.
The Rays had scored just two runs on balks in their previous 671 games before doing it in back-to-back games.
McClung veered into trouble almost every inning but got out of it, allowing six hits but walking only one and allowing only the one run. It was the fourth straight start in which McClung has allowed two or fewer runs, though the first of those four that he has ended up with a win.
"He did a great job," Maddon said.
Ruddy Lugo, who is being considered for the eighth-inning setup role, made a strong case by retiring Toronto's 2-3-4 hitters (Catalanotto, Vernon Wells and Troy Glaus) in order.
Walker gave up a pair of hits in the ninth but got Eric Hinske to ground into a game-ending double play.
The Rays doubled their score with two more runs in the fifth. A single and a fielder's choice left Gathright on first with one out when Julio Lugo went with an outside pitch and lashed it into the rightfield corner.
Gathright ran hard all the way to third, then slowed as he rounded the base. That was enough to convince rightfielder Alex Rios, who pumped once then tossed the ball toward second. That was all third-base coach Tom Foley needed to see, and he turned Gathright loose, and Gathright scored easily as shortstop McDonald's throw home was high and wide.
"I just watch Foley," Gathright said.
Lugo went to third on the throw, and he scored when Janssen bounced a 2-and-2 pitch.
The game was the first of a nine-game homestand for the Rays, who improved to 15-21 with the victory.
It is their most wins at this point in the season since 1999, when they were 17-19.
