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Harris' single helps Tampa Bay to win over Oakland

May 6, 2007 - 5:48 AM ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Brendan Harris did not care who ended the Tampa Bay Devil Rays extra-inning affair. It just so happened to be him.

Harris hit a walk-off single in the 12th inning to help the Tampa Bay Devil Rays post a 3-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday.

Wigginton hit his second homer of the night, a solo shot off Oakland closer Huston Street, to tie the game at 2-2 in the ninth.

"It's great," Harris said. "If anybody else had got it, after 12 innings it's nice to end it with us on top."

Both teams' bullpens then battled for three scoreless innings before Ben Zobrist, who had been in a 1-for-25 slump, reached on a one-out infield single in the 12th and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Zobrist then scored on Harris' two-out walk-off single to right field off Jay Marshall (1-2).

"Brendan Harris uses that side of the field very well," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "He did the right thing. He definitely was the right man at the right time."

Tampa Bay's bullpen was able to get out of few jams to give them a chance to win. Brian Stokes allowed a single to Travis Buck and hit Jason Kendall. Chris Snelling sacrificed them over and Shannon Stewart then lined into a double play to end the threat.

Ruddy Lugo (2-0) worked around a one-out double by Nick Swisher in the 12th, as the Devil Rays got six scoreless frames from its bullpen.

"The bullpen did very well," Maddon said. "They battled through some difficult moments. It was a helluva ball game, it just was." Swisher, who returned to the lineup Friday night and hit a go-ahead three-run homer, had two hits and an RBI for the A's, who continue to let lefthander Joe Kennedy down.

Kennedy has allowed one run in each of his last five starts but still has nothing to show for his dominance. He allowed just one run and three hits in seven innings in this contest and retired 11 of the first 14 batters he faced.

Things were looking good for Kennedy when Swisher hit a two-out single, Dan Johnson walked and Bobby Crosby plated Swisher with a base hit.

However, Wigginton homered to right on a 1-0 pitch from Street, ending any chance Kennedy had of gaining his first win. It was only the second blown save for Street in 10 tries.

"Joe pitched real well," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "He did his job, kept us in the game. We got the lead. Our bullpen did a good job - really other than Huston, just one pitch got a slider up and Wigginton didn't miss it."

"I was just looking for something up in the zone," Wigginton said. "I was just trying to find a way on base. He (Street) is one of the best closers in the game. He's as nasty as they come."

It was the first homer allowed by Street in the last 52 games dating to June 24.

"Truthfully, I thought it was almost too bad of a pitch," Street said. "I didn't think he was going to swing at it. He was in a little bit of a pull mode. I gave him something in and he did a good job."

Oakland took a 1-0 lead on a RBI single by Swisher in third. It stayed that way until the seventh when Wigginton tied the game at 1-1 with his first homer off Kennedy.

With the win, Tampa Bay moved into a second place tie with Baltimore in the American League East. It's the latest the Devil Rays have been in second place since 1999.