News
Upton leads comeback against Mariners
Rays outfielder drives in three, makes grab to end game
By Bill Chastain / MLB.com
09/23/09 11:42 PM ET
ST. PETERSBURG -- Finally, a come-from-behind win.After a season's worth of disappointing losses in the late innings, the Rays overcame a four-run Mariners lead Wednesday night to take a 5-4 win with 13,009 watching at Tropicana Field.
In victory, the Rays claimed their 78th win of the season and earned a split of their two-game series with the Mariners to finish the homestand with a 4-1 mark. The come-from-behind win was the team's largest since July 25 at Toronto when the Rays erased a 9-1 deficit to win, 10-9, in 12 innings, the biggest comeback in team history.
B.J. Upton earned top praises in victory after parlaying the game-winning hit with a game-saving catch, but there were plenty of heroes on a night that felt like 2008.
Trailing, 4-3, entering the bottom of the eighth, the Rays got an immediate lift when Evan Longoria greeted Mark Lowe with a single to right field. Ben Zobrist quickly fell behind, 0-2, but somehow managed to turn the tables and draw a walk to put two aboard with no outs.
"I thought Zobrist's at-bat where he went from 0-2 to 4-2 and drew the walk was probably the turning point," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
Willy Aybar followed by hitting into a forceout at second to leave runners at the corners with Akinori Iwamura stepping to the plate. Maddon opted to insert speedy Fernando Perez as a pinch-runner for Aybar at this point, which turned out to be crucial after Iwamura drew a walk to load the bases for Upton.
Upton, who singled home a run during a three-run sixth, came through again when he chopped a single into left field to score Longoria and Perez for a 5-4 lead.
Randy Choate came in to pitch the ninth for the Rays and he quickly retired Jack Hannahan and pinch-hitter Matt Tuiasosopo on groundouts. Bill Hall did not go down so easily as the Mariners pinch-hitter hit a shot toward Upton in deep center field. Upton braced for the wall and appeared to be camped under the ball before leaping at the last minute to catch the ball that might have cleared the fence for a game-tying home run or, at the very least, put a runner on second or third.
Upton didn't think the ball would travel as far as it did.
"I just got back, found the wall and made a jump for it," Upton said. "I don't think it would have gotten out."
Hall thought the ball had a chance to tie the score.
"I hit it pretty good," Hall said. "He's an unbelievable player that makes plays like that all the time. I guess I just need to hit it out of his reach."
Choate picked up his fifth save in five opportunities on the season, but the save was the left-hander's first since June 29 at Toronto.
Wednesday night's comeback might never have happened had Zobrist not taken care of business in the seventh. With the Mariners threatening to pull ahead, 5-3, the Rays right fielder caught Franklin Gutierrez's fly ball, then threw out Michael Saunders at the plate for the third out.
"That's the beauty of Ben," Maddon said. "Any place you put him, he plays solid defense. You don't feel like you're losing anything."
Wade Davis made his fourth Major League start for the Rays and pitched well, but two costly miscues allowed two runs to score and gave the Mariners a 4-0 lead in the sixth. Davis allowed two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings to pick up a no-decision.
"I didn't have a really good feel for the ball early in the game," Davis said. "In the fifth and sixth innings, I started getting a little better. Unfortunately, I gave up a couple of singles on pitches I didn't execute, but overall it was OK."
Dioner Navarro committed the first miscue when he made a back-handed stab at a low pitch from Davis with two outs in the third. The ball scooted past the Rays catcher for a passed ball, allowing Saunders to score from third to put the Mariners up, 1-0.
Seattle scored twice in the fifth on an RBI single by Ichiro Suzuki and on a groundout by Gutierrez to put the Mariners ahead, 3-0.
Hannahan singled to center field off Lance Cormier with two outs in the sixth. Upton fielded the hit and tried to throw out Adrian Beltre at third, but his throw hit Beltre and the ball went toward the Seattle dugout. Beltre scored on Upton's throwing error to push the lead to 4-0.
Iwamura hit a two-run triple with two outs in the sixth off Garrett Olson to get the Rays on the board. Upton then singled to left off Miguel Batista to score Iwamura to cut the lead to 4-3.
"We've been fighting hard," Maddon said. "They have a really good bullpen and we just kept having good at-bats. B.J. had a pretty good night tonight, which is good to see because he's been relatively maligned all season. So to have that happen tonight, I don't care what time of the year it is, it's something good to go home within a couple of weeks now and dwell on something like that as opposed to something negative."
Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
