Thursday, May 23, 2002
Devil Rays 3, Mariners 2
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are suddenly starting to believe in themselves. Rookie Jason Smith hit his first home run, and Ryan Rupe pitched six solid innings as the Devil Rays edged the Seattle Mariners 3-2 Wednesday night for their season-high fourth straight victory.
“We're playing better,” manager Hal McRae said. “We've got a lot of ground to make up, but the guys are gradually feeling better. Things are looking up.”
The Devil Rays are 7-3 since their franchise-record 15-game losing skid ended May 11. The AL West-leading Mariners dropped their fourth in a row, their first four-game losing streak since last September.
“We're a bunch of young guys out there scrapping,” Rupe said.
When the Mariners tied the major league record with 116 wins last season, they went 7-2 against Tampa Bay.
Rupe (4-5) pitched four scoreless innings before giving up a run in the fifth to give the Devil Rays a club-record 22 consecutive shutout innings. Joe Kennedy threw a four-hitter to beat the Mariners 1-0 Tuesday night, snapping Tampa Bay's major league record drought of 194 games without a complete game.
Rupe, beating Seattle for the first time in five career decisions, broke a streak of four straight losing starts with his first win since April 24. He allowed two runs on five hits.
“I haven't pitched well here, but this is one of my favorite parks,” Rupe said. “The crowds are awesome.”
The right-hander said beating Seattle did a lot for his confidence.
“Their pitching staff is very solid,” Rupe said. “Their bullpen is unbelievable. They've got speed up and down the lineup. I can't imagine their whole lineup when Edgar (Martinez) gets back.”
Victor Zambrano pitched two scoreless innings before Esteban Yan worked the ninth for his eighth save in nine opportunities.
“The thing that's turned this around for us has been our pitching,” McRae said. “They're making pitches.”
The Mariners lost their first series to Tampa Bay since 1998.
“We ran into good pitching,” manager Lou Piniella said.
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the second against Joel Pineiro (4-1) when John Flaherty singled, stole second and scored on Jason Conti's double. The Devil Rays made it 2-0 in the third on Smith's homer that hit the right-field foul pole.
“I was just praying that it was going to stay fair because it was hooking fast,” Smith said. “I thought it was going to hook before it got to the foul pole. It felt pretty good.”
An error and a baserunning mistake cost the Mariners, who fell to 12-11 at Safeco Field.
They loaded the bases in the fifth, and Ichiro Suzuki's infield single scored Ruben Sierra. But Mike Cameron was thrown out by shortstop Chris Gomez when he rounded third and couldn't get back to the bag.
“Baserunning is an integral part of the game,” Piniella said. “You can't make mistakes. The Cameron play took us out of a big inning.”
Cameron took the blame for the play.
“I was hauling and it was very tough for me to stop on a dime,” he said. “I was already two steps past the bag. There was nothing I could do about it.”
In the sixth, the Devil Rays made it 3-1 with an unearned run when third baseman Desi Relaford couldn't handle Flaherty's groundball after Greg Vaughn opened the inning with a triple.
The Mariners got their second run in the sixth on a walk to Mark McLemore, Bret Boone's double and Sierra's grounder.
Pineiro went six innings, giving up three runs — two earned — on seven hits. He walked three, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch.
Notes: Mariners 3B Jeff Cirillo didn't start after being picked off first Tuesday night. “It's not a day off,” Piniella said. “I'll get him back in there, but I haven't been pleased with the way he's been running the bases.” Cirillo has been picked off twice and caught stealing twice in his first season in Seattle. ... Safeco Field's retractable roof was closed during the sixth inning. ... Flaherty's stolen base was his second in 409 games with the Devil Rays. ... The Mariners are hitting .202 (25-for-124) during their losing streak.
Reds Stories
Scott's absence perplexes Bengals
Hawkins sidelined 6-8 weeks
Bengals rookie finally arrives
Woods aims at Memorial four-peat
Lickliter driven to succeed
Golf tip from Gary McCord
Ducks lose coach to Anaheim
Luyendyk's place in car, not booth
Rutherford: Indy still greatest race
Red Wings 2, Avalanche 1
Coming up this week
Fairfield in arm's length of regional
Cincinnati high school results
Cincinnati high school schedule
N.Ky. high school highlights
N.Ky. high school results
N.Ky. high school schedule
Boys track honor roll
Girls track honor roll
Ohio baseball poll
Ohio softball poll
Ohio tennis poll
• Return to Reds front page...
Devil Rays 3, Mariners 2 
