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  Saturday, May 27 4:15pm ET
M's pitching getting it done
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Brett Tomko was good, and Seattle's bullpen was even better.

Tomko allowed three hits in five-plus innings, and four Mariners relievers limited Tampa Bay to one hit to finish a 6-3 victory over the struggling Devil Rays, who went down in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth.

Brett Tomko
Tomko

"That's what you really want to see, isn't it?" Seattle manager Lou Piniella said of the work of Rob Ramsay, Frankie Rodriguez, Arthur Rhodes and closer Kazuhiro Sasaki.

"It's a combination of everything. The hitters are putting up some runs ... and our pitching is getting it done," said Tomko (3-2), who made his first start since stiffness in his right shoulder forced him out in the fourth inning of an outing against Tampa Bay on May 19.

"Because of what I battled this week, I kind of backed off everything and decided not to try to overpower everybody. I just kind of hit my spots and let the ball work. ... I was a little worried going into the game with what happened last time, but I responded good."

John Olerud's two-run single snapped a fifth-inning tie, and the Mariners also got a pair of RBI singles from Mark McLemore to beat the Devil Rays for the second straight game after beginning a six-day road trip with three losses at Baltimore.

Tampa Bay (15-32) has dropped eight series in a row and has the worst record in the major leagues. The latest loss wasn't the only bad news of the day.

Designated hitter Jose Canseco, a late scratch from the lineup because of a strained left heel, was placed on the 15-day disabled list after the game.

Vinny Castilla homered off Tomko for Tampa Bay, and the Devil Rays scored twice in the sixth without the benefit of a hit.

McLemore's RBI single off Bryan Rekar (1-3) gave the Mariners a 4-1 lead in the top of the sixth. His single off Rick White made it 5-3 in the eighth, and Jay Buhner drove in Seattle's final run with a ninth-inning, pinch-hit single.

Rekar, pitching on three days' rest, was coming off his strongest outing of the season -- a club-record 5 2/3-inning relief stint against Oakland that got him his first win since last July 10. He limited Seattle to two hits -- one of them Raul Ibanez's RBI double -- through four innings, but the Mariners kept pecking away.

Olerud snapped a 1-1 tie with his two-run single in the fifth and the first of McLemore's two RBI singles finished Rekar. The right-hander allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"I felt good and just hit a wall about the sixth," Rekar said.

In addition to Castilla's sixth homer, Tomko allowed singles to Jose Guillen in the first and Felix Martinez in the fifth. Piniella pulled Tomko in the sixth after the right-hander walked Steve Cox and hit Guillen to open the inning.

Ramsay walked the only batter he faced to load the bases with no outs. Bubba Trammell's sacrifice fly trimmed Tampa Bay's deficit to 4-2 and another run scored when Castilla grounded into a force play.

The Mariners clung to their 4-3 lead when John Flaherty doubled but Castilla, trying to score from first base, was thrown out at the plate on Alex Rodriguez's relay throw from left fielder Stan Javier.

Game notes
Castilla's homer struck one of the catwalks supporting the roof at Tropicana Field. He's the sixth player to hit a fair ball off one of the structures this season ... LF Greg Vaughn, who left Friday night's game with a strained right hamstring, did not play and is still listed as day-to-day. ... Cox's throwing error in the fifth was the first error charged to Tampa Bay's outfield this season.

 


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