Devil Rays Sting Phillies

Bryan Rekar`s first win of the season came at a bad time for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rekar snapped his seven-game losing streak, and Greg Vaughn hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Phillies 5-3 Wednesday night.

Rekar (1-7) allowed three runs and nine hits, striking out seven in eight innings for his first win since Sept. 28.

"I really didn`t get too down," Rekar said. "Sometimes, I found myself pressing a little too much. I knew it would come around."

The Devil Rays tied it 3-3 in the eighth on Randy Winn`s RBI double off Ricky Bottalico (2-4).

Vaughn hit his 17th homer to make it 5-3 as Tampa Bay won for the fourth time in five games.

The Devil Rays, who won 2-of-3 from the New York Mets last weekend, captured back-to-back series for the first time this season.

"It was really a great feeling that they battled back and got three runs off a good pitcher late in the game to get me a win," Rekar said.

Esteban Yan got the final three outs for his seventh save.

The Phillies, clinging to a shrinking first-place lead in the NL East, have lost eight of 10. Coupled with Atlanta`s loss to Toronto, the Phillies have a 2½-game lead over the Braves.

"We played a good game, but we didn`t get it done in the eighth inning," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "Obviously, it takes the sting out of you when have a lead going into the bottom of the eighth and you lose that lead. You just have to fight your way out of it."

The announced crowd was 10,539, the smallest at home in Tampa Bay`s brief history.

Philadelphia took its first lead at 3-2 after Jimmy Rollins opened the eighth with a triple and scored on Bobby Abreu`s sacrifice fly.

Phillies starter Bruce Chen allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings. He equaled a career high with nine strikeouts.

Rekar got some defensive help early as Jason Tyner robbed Pat Burrell of extra bases with a leaping catch against the center-field fence in the second inning.

"We haven`t been giving him any run support," Tyner said. "You really want to play well behind him, and let him get that monkey off the back with that win. It`s a good feeling when you play baseball like this."

Mike DiFelice put the Devil Rays ahead 1-0 with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second.

The Phillies, who went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, tied it at 1 on Abreu`s third-inning RBI single.

"We`re finding ourselves in situations where we`re not getting the big hits with runners in scoring position like early in the season when we were doing those things," Rollins said. "We`re struggling right now, but we`ll get it back."

Fred McGriff`s solo homer gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead in the fourth. McGriff, with 1,336 RBIs, is one behind Johnny Mize for 57th place on baseball`s career list.

"The big guys are swinging the bats well, and hitting the ball out of the ballpark," Devil Rays manager Hal McRae said. "And the little guys are getting on base."

Marlon Anderson tied it again for Philadelphia with a run-scoring single in the seventh. Anderson was thrown out by DiFelice at second base after a pitchout, ending a run of 26 consecutive successful stolen base attempts by the Phillies.

The Devil Rays` team record for consecutive losses by a pitcher is eight, set by Tony Saunders and Dennis Springer in 1998. Tampa Bay right-hander Albie Lopez is on a seven-game losing skid, the longest active run in the AL.

Montreal`s Britt Reames has an active eight-game losing skid in the NL.

Notes:
Philadelphia CF Doug Glanville was hitless in four at bats, snapping a 15-game hitting streak. ... Phillies 3B Scott Rolen went 0-for-4 against Rekar. He homered in his only other two at bats against the right-hander. ... Pittsburgh`s Todd Ritchie snapped an eight-game losing skid Tuesday night in the Pirates` 13-3 victory over Detroit. ... Tampa Bay DH Ben Grieve hit a second-inning double that struck a cable under the second-highest catwalk _ which is in play at Tropicana Field.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: 6 ABC - Action News