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Tampa Bay 19, NY Yankees 6



Preview - Box Score - Recap

By MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Baseball Writer
July 29, 2006

AP - Jul 29, 7:39 pm EDT
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NEW YORK (AP) -- A bad day for Randy Johnson quickly turned into a record-setting one for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Tomas Perez tied a major league mark with four doubles, going 5-for-5 and leading Tampa Bay to a 19-6 rout of Johnson and the New York Yankees on Saturday.

"They killed us," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It was just a day we'd like to forget. It wasn't a whole lot of fun. It felt like it lasted a day and a half."

Damon Hollins homered to snap an 0-for-18 skid and drove in a career-best five runs for the Devil Rays, who matched a franchise record for runs. They earned their first road win this month and emphatically ended New York's four-game winning streak.

The only visiting team to score more than 19 runs in a game at Yankee Stadium was the Cleveland Indians in a 22-0 win on Aug. 31, 2004.

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"It's just one win. There's nothing special about it," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "I expect them to be very difficult to beat tomorrow."

Jonny Gomes, Jorge Cantu and Travis Lee also connected as Tampa Bay equaled a season high with 17 hits and won for only the fifth time in 19 games. All that offense sent right-hander Jae Seo to his first win with the Devil Rays.

"Jae Seo kept us in there and then it was the Hollins-slash-Perez show -- two guys that have not been playing much," Maddon said.

Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi hit consecutive homers in the first inning for the Yankees, but the game took a striking turn from there. New York gave up 19 runs for the second time this year, after losing 19-1 in Cleveland on July 4.

Johnson (11-9) was tagged for a season-high nine runs -- six earned -- and six hits in 3 1-3 innings, matching his shortest outing this year. He walked three and did not strike out a batter for the first time in 49 starts since May 15, 2005, at Oakland.

This was the first time in nine starts that Johnson failed to last at least six innings.

"I had a bad day at work. Just a bad game. Bad location, and I paid the price," he said. "Everything happened with two out. I just couldn't get the third out."


AP - Jul 29, 7:38 pm EDT
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The Big Unit had two outs in the second and a 2-0 lead when Johnny Damon failed to make a running catch of Hollins' drive to left-center. The ball squirted out of Damon's glove for an error, leading to three unearned runs.

Tampa Bay never stopped hitting after that, and the Yankees dropped 1 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East.

"I wish I could have cradled that ball. It just seemed like the floodgates opened after that. It's a funny game, how momentum changes very quickly," Damon said. "I'm not sure what happened, maybe I took my eye off it. It hit me on the heel of the glove. Unfortunately, when I saw it being bobbled, I tried to cradle it too quickly."

After getting only two hits against Chien-Ming Wang in a 6-0 loss Friday night, Tampa Bay tied the team record for runs set in a 19-13 victory at Toronto on June 24, 2004.

The Devil Rays, who began the day last in the AL with 445 runs, had lost 10 straight road games since beating Washington 11-1 on June 30.

"They gave us a pretty good whuppin' yesterday and we wanted to come out today and jump on them," Hollins said. "Everybody swung the bat well. It was just a team effort."

The only bad news all afternoon for Tampa Bay was this: Ty Wigginton broke a bone in his left hand when he was hit by a pitch from Shawn Chacon and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Perez, batting ninth, scored four times and drove in two runs. He raised his average from .194 to .219, setting a franchise record for doubles in a game.

Many major leaguers have hit four doubles in a game. The last player to do it was Atlanta's Adam LaRoche on May 15, 2004, at Milwaukee, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Seo (1-5) was handed a 12-4 lead and lasted long enough for his first win since May 22 with the Dodgers against Colorado.

Acquired from Los Angeles in a June 27 trade, he had lost all five starts with Tampa Bay and seven consecutive decisions overall, dating to his stint with the Dodgers.

After cracking a nail on the index finger of his pitching hand during warmups, Seo allowed five runs and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings. He said the nail still hurt, but he expects to make his next start.

"Being that it was my daughter's first birthday and all, it was wonderful that everything kind of clicked into place," Seo said through a translator.

Wigginton was hit by a pitch in the fourth. He was replaced at first base by Lee in the bottom half.

Jorge Posada had a two-run double for New York.

Notes

Johnson dropped to 3-4 with a 5.23 ERA in 10 career starts against the Devil Rays. ... The Yankees lost for only the third time in 12 home games. ... Tampa Bay plans to play a man short Sunday and call someone up from the minors in time for Monday night's home game against Detroit -- possibly B.J. Upton. ... Seo was 2-4 with the Dodgers this season. ... Tampa Bay had scored only six runs in four games at Yankee Stadium this year. ... Seo improved to 1-11 lifetime in July.