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Rays no flops at TropBy MARC TOPKIN © St. Petersburg Times, published May 31, 1998 With a crowd of 40,212, third largest of the season, at Tropicana Field, the Rays beat the Mariners 5-2. It was Tampa Bay's first win at home since May 12 and just the fourth since mid-April. "It's nice to get the monkey off our back," said centerfielder Quinton McCracken. "It was an energetic crowd, a loud crowd, and that really gets you excited as a player. You can feel the electricity in the air." The fans had plenty to be excited about. Knuckleballer Dennis Springer, who came into the game with an AL-high eight losses, finally caught some breaks and won for the first time since April 4. Mike Kelly, mired in a 1-for-17 slump, had two two-out hits and drove in three runs. Esteban Yan pitched 21/3 innings of one-hit relief. "It's really rewarding," Kelly said. "We haven't been getting a lot of key hits, clutch hits, especially myself. To get a couple key hits feels really good for me." Springer (2-8) deserved the victory. While he was erratic at times, and was third in the AL with 13 home runs allowed, he had received little help and less luck. The Rays scored just 12 runs in the eight losses, and overall he had the second-lowest run support in the league, at 2.89 runs per nine innings. He also had the misfortune of pitching against some of the Rays' toughest opponents -- Seattle's Randy Johnson, Toronto's Woody Williams, Baltimore's Mike Mussina, Texas' Aaron Sele and Minnesota's Brad Radke. But Saturday, things were different. Three times in the first five innings, the Mariners crushed long drives. But three times, Rays outfielders made catches at or near the wall. On two other occasions, shortstop Kevin Stocker and second baseman Miguel Cairo turned nifty double plays behind him. Springer, winless since his first start, lasted two batters into the sixth. He allowed just two hits, striking out three, walking three and hitting two. "He did what he had to do," manager Larry Rothschild said. "He was really good through five innings. He got out of a couple jams, his knuckleball was good and he spotted his other pitches well." Rothschild, working with the luxury of two left-handers in the bullpen, used Scott Aldred to retire Ken Griffey on a fly out with two on and none out in the sixth. Griffey had been 4-for-16 with three homers off Aldred. Yan then closed out the inning. Rothschild used Matt Ruebel to get Griffey out with one on and two out in the eighth. Roberto Hernandez pitched the ninth to convert his eighth straight save situation and 10th overall. The Mariners, who have scored first in all six games between the teams, took a 2-0 lead in the first with aggressive baserunning and the benefit of a Stocker throwing error. Alex Rodriguez drew a one-out walk and Griffey singled to put runners on first and third. Griffey took off for second and when catcher Mike DiFelice threw down, Rodriguez broke for home. Stocker's throw, too late to get Rodriguez, skipped past DiFelice, allowing Griffey to third. He scored from there on David Segui's infield out. The Rays, though, came right back, and got some help of their own. They loaded the bases when Cairo and Wade Boggs rapped one-out singles and Fred McGriff walked. A Paul Sorrento strikeout later, Kelly delivered a hard single to right, the Rays' first hit with a runner in scoring position of the series after 15 attempts. Cairo scored easily and Boggs was safe with a superb slide. The 39-year-old was beaten to the plate by Rob Ducey's throw but deftly got his left foot between catcher John Marzano's legs, then avoided the tag with a fadeaway slide. Dave Martinez then lofted a lazy fly ball to left for what should have been the third out. But Seattle's Glenallen Hill made a lazier attempt trying to catch it and just fell down while backpeddaling. The ball bounced into the stands and was scored a ground-rule double as McGriff scored to make it 3-2. The Rays, who had scored just four runs in the first two games of the series, ran their lead to 5-2 in the fifth and chased starter Ken Cloude. Boggs walked and McGriff singled, though Sorrento hit into a double play. But Kelly, who came into the game struggling, delivered another run-scoring single. Kelly then stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on DiFelice's single to right. That was it for Cloude, who threw 88 pitches in less than five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits.
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T. PETERSBURG -- The Devil Rays finally gave those who root, root, root for the home team something to cheer about Saturday night.
