Wednesday, 3 a.m.
If things had gone any worse for the Tampa Bay Rays in the fourth inning Tuesday night, someone would have stolen Kevin Cash's wallet.
The Rays had a nightmare half-inning in their 8-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners, giving up seven runs and turning into a Pee-Wee League team. They allowed seven unearned runs in the inning, four hits, hit a batter, walked another and committed two errors.
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The Rays fell behind 8-0 in the game. They scored the game's final four runs on two-run homers by Rene Pinto and Wander Franco and had two men reach in the ninth, but the hole was too deep.
“Just a rough inning for all of us," Rays' manager Cash said. "Flem (pitcher Josh Fleming) did some good things getting the ball on the ground. We didn’t help him like we usually do. It just didn’t happen.
"It snowballed from there. They found holes. Everything that could go their way went their way.. Everything that couldn’t go our way…..I feel like that’s what took place. But you've got to find a way to overcome it. Whether you get a swing-and-miss in there or make a play behind (the pitcher), we’ve got to be better than to allow that inning to snowball."
With one out and two men on in the inning, Franco made an error on ground ball that could have been an inning-ending double play, and Brandon Lowe couldn't keep his balance as he reached for it. The next batter, Tom Murphy, hit an infield chopper that should have at least been converte into an out at home, but first baseman Ji-Man Choi spiked the ball into the turf and two runs scored. The Mariners went on to get two more doubles and a single to open a big lead.
Pitcher Logan Gilbert threw 4 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball for Seattle. He ended up giving up only two hits.
The Mariners have now beaten the Rays seven of their last eight meetings since the start of last seaso
Pinto's first major league hit was a home run. He later added a single.
"I felt like I was flying," he said.
The Rays and Mariners play again tonight at 6:40 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Drew Rasmussen will start for Tampa Bay against Marco Gonzales.