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Pitchers shuffle again in split

Paul Wilson is sharp and Tanyon Sturtze goes down as Rays win 4-1 and lose 2-0 in doubleheader.

By BRUCE LOWITT

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 27, 2000

BALTIMORE -- Paul Wilson made his first start in nearly four years an excellent one -- six shutout innings -- but the Devil Rays couldn't score for him either.

And when Rays reliever Corey Lidle fell apart in the eighth, the Orioles came away with a 2-0 victory and a split of Saturday's day-night doubleheader, again denying the Rays sole possession of fourth place in the AL East for the first time since April 16.

In the first game, Greg Vaughn closed in on a personal mark with a home run, and when he barely missed hitting a second one, Fred McGriff was there to put his name in the record book.

Their slugging and exceptional relief by Dave Eiland for injured starter Tanyon Sturtze gave the Devil Rays a 4-1 victory.

Wilson was the No. 1 pick in the 1994 draft by the Mets and was 5-12 in 1996. But three shoulder surgeries and an elbow operation kept him out of the majors and the Mets traded him and Jason Tyner to the Rays for reliever Rick White and outfielder Bubba Trammell.

Wilson made four relief appearances for the Rays before Saturday night's start. He threw 92 pitches, allowing three hits, striking out eight with no walks.

"I think he was better than we had a right to expect," manager Larry Rothschild said. "He's been throwing good since we got him. I thought he would pitch a good game for us. ... Going into next year he's got a chance to come back even further."

Wilson will stay in the rotation -- a timely arrival since Sturtze may be gone for as much as a month -- but will not go past six innings.

That's fine with Wilson. "They're trying to be careful with me, which is great," he said. "I want them to be careful. Next year in that situation, when I'm out there in the sixth inning, the seventh inning is mine, and the eighth."

Lidle kept the shutout going for one inning. In the eighth, Mike Kinkade singled, Trenidad Hubbard ran for him and reached third when Lidle fielded Luis Matos' sacrifice bunt and threw the ball into right field.

Rothschild protested. "I thought the runner was in the baseline," he said. "Even the replay showed it. (Lidle) had no place to throw the ball."

A suicide squeeze by Jerry Hairston scored Hubbard and Melvin Mora singled Mantos home, and the Rays ended the day where they started, 11/2 games behind the Orioles.

In the opener, Sturtze sustained a rib injury throwing a pitch at the end of the second inning. Eiland threw 41/3 innings of one-run, four-hit relief and got the win when Vaughn broke a sixth-inning tie, hitting Sidney Ponson's first pitch to him for a 375-foot two-run homer to leftfield.

When the Orioles loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning, Esteban Yan replaced Eiland, struck out Jerry Hairston and got Matos to fly out.

"The bullpen did a heck of a job," Rothschild said. "Dave came in and gave us some quick innings and Esty came in and got out of a jam, which was the ballgame, really."

Vaughn's home run, following Miguel Cairo's single, was his 23rd this season. With seven more he can become the third player in major-league history to hit 30 or more with four teams. The others are McGriff and former Devil Ray Jose Canseco.

Vaughn hit 30 in 1993 and 31 in 1996 with Milwaukee, 50 with San Diego in 1998 and 45 with Cincinnati last year.

He came into Saturday's game in a 4-for-36 (.111) slump and had not hit a home run since Aug. 12. "He can be streaky and when he gets it going he can do it all at once," Rothschild said. "Hopefully that's the case.'

Vaughn opened the ninth inning with another drive to left. Delino DeShields jumped at the wall and caught it above the fence. On Ponson's next pitch, McGriff hit his 22nd home run, a 395-foot slice to left-centerfield.

McGriff is two home runs shy of becoming the second player to hit 200 or more each in the National and American leagues, joining Frank Robinson. McGriff had 214 in the NL with San Diego and Atlanta and 125 with Toronto before joining the Devil Rays in 1998.

The home run also was McGriff's first at Camden Yards. He has homered in 37 ballparks, tying Mark McGwire for the major-league lead. McGriff is missing only Comerica Park in Detroit.

The Rays' second-inning run was a gift from DeShields. He badly misjudged McGriff's leadoff fly ball and it fell for a double. Two outs later John Flaherty singled McGriff home. It was Flaherty's third hit -- all singles -- and first RBI in 31 at-bats since hitting the three-run ninth-inning homer Aug. 20 to beat the White Sox at Tropicana Field.

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