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Rays/MLB

Rays threaten but can't cash in

Mariners 5, Rays 4: Tampa Bay leaves 14 runners on base, and slumping starter Tim Corcoran gives up two two-run homers.

By MARC TOPKIN
Published August 8, 2006

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	[AP photo]
	Rays first baseman Travis Lee takes the throw from shortstop Ben Zobrist to just get Ichiro Suzuki on a soft grounder in the fifth inning.

SEATTLE - Despite the ridiculousness of a schedule that had them play a game in St. Petersburg on Sunday, then one more than 2,500 miles away the next day, the Devil Rays got off to a decent start Monday night.

They just couldn't finish the job, losing to the Mariners 5-4.

A game offense that scored in three of the first four innings ended up leaving a season-high 14 men on base, and that wasn't good enough given a poor performance by starter Tim Corcoran, who gave up two two-run home runs, both on fastballs, and walked in a run in five innings.

"Sometimes you look at numbers like that, and it's never good when it says 14, but I think we had some good at-bats in tight situations," manager Joe Maddon said. "I liked our at-bats a lot tonight; I thought we battled well until the very end."

Corcoran's time in the rotation may be running out. He has gone more than a month since his last win as a starter (July 5 against Boston), and in five starts since the All-Star break he is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA.

"Corcoran had great stuff tonight, and his velocity was up," Maddon said. "But he made some mistakes, and they do not miss them."

Given the five-hour-plus flight that made for a post-midnight Eastern time arrival in Seattle and the continued absence of Rocco Baldelli, the Rays did well to take early leads of 1-0 and 4-3 against ancient Mariner Jamie Moyer, the wily 43-year-old left-hander.

But the Mariners went with the big-bang approach against Corcoran, getting two-run homers from Adrian Beltre (in the first) and Raul Ibanez (in the fifth). It was the major-league-high 38th time the Rays lost after leading.

The Rays had a final shot in the ninth, when Travis Lee led off with a single, Dioner Navarro walked with one out and both runners moved up on B.J. Upton's broken-bat groundout. Jonny Gomes drew a walk from J.J. Putz to load the bases, but rookie Ben Zobrist flied to shallow center for the final out.

With Sunday's win over the Red Sox, the Rays notched back-to-back victories for the first time since July 21-22, a maddening span of more than two weeks. They haven't won three in a row since July 3-4-5 victories over the Red Sox.

The Rays struck first in the first Monday. Carl Crawford pulled a ball down the first-base line and got a fortunate carom off the side wall that allowed him to beat the throw from Ichiro Suzuki for his American League-leading 12th triple, starting a four-hit night. Crawford scored when Jorge Cantu slapped a ground ball single through the right side of the drawn-in infield.

Corcoran, in what became a theme, failed to take advantage, allowing a double to Jose Lopez and a homer to Beltre on an 0-and-1 count.

The Rays tied it with a two-out rally in the third when Cantu walked and Lee and Sunday star Greg Norton singled, but Corcoran gave the momentum and the lead right back, and in agonizing fashion.

With two outs and two on, Maddon had Corcoran intentionally walk Ibanez to get to Richie Sexson.

It seemed like a good strategy given that Sexson, a 6-foot-8 right-handed hitter, has been struggling and came into the game with a .224 average and 113 strikeouts, third most in the league.

But Corcoran did the one thing Maddon didn't want: a walk that forced in a run.

The Rays rallied for a third time in the fourth when Upton smacked a leadoff single and stole second, impressive rookie Zobrist rapped a run-scoring double to left and Crawford delivered another big two-out hit that put the Rays up 4-3.

Corcoran had trouble again in the fifth. He gave up a one-out single to Lopez, then made another costly mistake with two outs, leaving an 0-and-1 pitch where Ibanez could crush it for a two-run homer.

[Last modified August 8, 2006, 06:27:08]