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Beltre, Betancourt cap comeback as Mariners down Devil Rays

Sep 14, 2007 - 6:43 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- If the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have proven anything in the last three days, it's that nothing beats a quality bullpen. Just ask the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners scored five runs in the eighth inning to cap a six-run comeback and earn an 8-7 victory over the Devil Rays on Thursday night.

Yuniesky Betancourt tied the contest with a two-run double and Adrian Beltre drove him in to score the game-winner for Seattle (76-68), which pulled back within 5 1/2 games of the New York Yankees (83-63) in the American League wild card race.

The Mariners' bullpen was forced to work overtime after starter Jeff Weaver lasted just 1 1/3 innings. Sean White, Ryan Rowland-Smith (1-0) and J.J. Putz combined to allow two runs in 7 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven. It was the first major league win for the Australian-born Rowland-Smith.

Putz earned his 38th save, and first since August 24, with a perfect ninth inning.

"These guys got mad," Mariners manager John McLaren said about his team's 41st comeback victory of the year. "We got behind, 5-0, and they got mad. I think it is the veterans that push everybody. They won't let anybody quit. You can hear them at the end of the bench.

"We've been behind before and we've come back. But we definitely need our starters to do better."

Thursday marked the third night in a row that the Devil Rays' bullpen had blown the lead. Tampa Bay held an 8-1 lead on the Red Sox on Tuesday before losing, 16-10, and suffered a walk-off loss to Boston on Wednesday when closer Al Reyes surrendered a homer to David Ortiz in the bottom of the ninth.

"The last three games have been cut out of the same cloth," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We've had three games in a row that we should have won but did not.

"The guys on the field today did a great job. We scored plenty of runs to win today, plenty of runs, and we should have won."

It was newcomer Dan Wheeler's turn to play the goat Thursday, as the veteran righthander yielded three runs in the eighth inning. Wheeler (1-8) is now 0-4 with Tampa Bay since coming over from Houston at the trading deadline.

Seattle was down, 5-0, when Ichiro Suzuki drove in the Mariners' first run of the game with a single in the fifth. After the Devil Rays answered with two more in the sixth, Betancourt and Ichiro got those runs back with an RBI double and a run-scoring single, respectively, in the seventh.

Tampa Bay reliever Scott Dohmann walked the first two batters he faced in the eighth before being replaced by Wheeler, who surrendered a single to Ben Broussard that loaded the bases. Wheeler then got Jose Vidro to ground into a double play, but Raul Ibanez scored from third to cut the lead to 7-4.

Kenji Johjima came up next and singled in a run, and Jeremy Reed followed with a single to put runners on first and second for Betancourt, who drove a deep fly ball off the left field scoreboard, scoring both runs and tying the contest at 7-7.

"You always go up to the plate with the same mentality, but yesterday's game really helped out confidence-wise," said Betancourt, who delivered the game-winning single Wednesday night as well and is hitting .319 since the All-Star break.

After Wheeler intentionally walked Ichiro, Beltre put the Mariners on top to stay, 8-7.

The bullpen's struggles erased a stellar effort from Devil Rays starter Jason Hammel, who allowed one run and five hits while striking out six and not issuing a walk over six innings.

It was the third straight strong outing for the 25-year-old Righthander from nearby Port Orchard, Washington.

"These things happen," said Hammel, who was playing in front of some 30 friends and family. "We played a good game for six or seven innings, then had a couple of mishaps and sometimes they can hurt you as you saw tonight."