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Mental errors help send Rays to third straight loss

By Joe Smith, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, April 17, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT [Associated Press] Rays starter James Shields labors again, getting through five innings but throwing 96 pitches.

MINNEAPOLIS — Carl Crawford made several huge plays in Wednesday night's 6-5 loss to the Twins.

The All-Star leftfielder crushed a Livan Hernandez pitch into the upper deck for a solo homer in the third. He then doubled and scored in the fifth.

But it was the aggressive defensive play Crawford made during the Twins' winning rally in the eighth that was the focus of the postgame chatter.

With one out and ex-Ray Delmon Young on third, the speedy Crawford raced into foul territory to make a diving catch on a Mike Lamb fly ball. With Crawford briefly sprawled on the Metrodome turf, Young tagged up and scored the winning run.

"It was just one of those plays — I didn't know if it was fair or foul, I was just thinking about the out," Crawford said.

Crawford still had a chance to tie, or potentially win, the back-and-forth game in the ninth. Facing Twins closer Joe Nathan with two outs and a runner on second, he worked a 2-and-2 count before getting called out on strikes.

Manager Joe Maddon acknowledged Crawford's catch was a "big play" but said it was a tough moment: "If the ball had been fair and he let it go, then all of a sudden it looks like a bad play that way."

To Maddon, the Rays simply made too many mistakes overall to win such a close game.

The Rays (6-9) did hold two leads. Rightfielder Eric Hinske followed Crawford's homer with another solo shot in the fourth to make it 2-0.

The Twins (7-8) answered with the help of the ex-Rays. Joe Mauer started the fourth with a leadoff single. With two outs, Jason Kubel slapped a double down the rightfield line, advancing to third when Mauer scored. Brendan Harris (who was 2-for-4 with an RBI), acquired with Young in an offseason trade, then delivered an RBI single to leftfield to tie the score at 2.

Crawford helped the Rays go up a run in the fifth, doubling and scoring on a B.J. Upton single. But the Twins answered right away off Rays starter James Shields, who went five innings, allowing five runs — including a season-high three earned — and left without a decision.

Shields nearly minimized his damage in that fateful fifth, even after Mauer ripped a single that scored Carlos Gomez. But on the same play, Mauer moved to second on an errant throw by Upton, who overthrew the plate trying to get Gomez at home.

After Shields walked Justin Morneau, a wild pitch set up runners on second and third with two outs. That's when Young hit a bouncer to deep short. Jason Bartlett had to step back, and his throw bounced through first baseman Carlos Pena, allowing both runners to score to give the Twins a 5-3 lead. It was Bartlett's third error this season, the only errors by the Rays infielders in 15 games.

Shawn Riggans came through with a tying two-run homer in the sixth. But it wasn't enough.

"We just didn't have one of our better games overall," Maddon said. "But we kept fighting back. … We play a lot of close games, we just continue to let them get away. We've got to stop doing that."

Joe Smith can be reached at joesmith@sptimes.com.