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Fresh fish Cornelius loses no-hit bid but gains respect
Posted: Sunday June 11, 2000 12:38 AM
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Florida's Reid Cornelius was unhittable for six innings, and the baffled Tampa Bay Devil Rays are still trying to figure out why. Cornelius, whose career has been hindered by injuries, took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and Mike Lowell and Luis Castillo homered for the Marlins in a 5-1 victory Saturday. "It was the kind of game, I'm sure, where their hitters are going back scratching their heads, saying: 'I should have hit that pitch,'" Marlins manager John Boles said. "Three things -- location, pitch selection and change of speeds -- did wonders for him. This was not a fluke outing. He pitched like this the past two games." Greg Vaughn broke up Cornelius' no-hit try, lining an 0-1 pitch to left field for a single leading off the seventh. The Florida right-hander lost his shutout in the eighth when Felix Martinez tripled with one out and scored when Gerald Williams grounded out. Cornelius (1-1) allowed three hits, walked three and threw three wild pitches in eight innings to win for the first time since beating Montreal last Sept. 21. It was just the fifth win in 13 decisions during a career in which he's been on the disabled list eight times because of arm, elbow and shoulder problems since 1989. "He knows how to pitch," Boles said. "hen he was signed he was a power pitcher. He had some arm injuries and it took him awhile to (make adjustments)." Armando Almanza walked two in the ninth. Antonio Alfonseca walked the first batter he faced, loading the bases, before getting the last out for his 18th save. Lowell hit a two-run homer off Esteban Yan (3-4) in the fifth and Castillo hit his first homer since Aug. 9, 1998, in the sixth off reliever Doug Creek. Cliff Floyd also drove in two runs with a single and double. Cornelius said as the game wore on, he wasn't thinking about what he needed to do to keep his no-hitter. "t was one of those things where they miss-hit a lot of balls up in the air and guys caught it," he said. "The defense did a great job back there. We got away with a few mistakes. It worked out in our favor." The Devil Rays didn't know what to make of Cornelius, who was making his fourth start of the season and 16th of his career. "He mixed up his pitches very well. He stayed ahead in the count. He used both sides of the plate and pitched a very good game," Williams said. "The score allowed him to do what he needed to do." Jose Guillen singled off Cornelius in the eighth, but grounded weakly to third in his first three at bats. "I don't know what it was. He'd throw a pitch and it would move at the last second. I'd move closer to the plate, and the next one -- I couldn't reach it either," Guillen said. "We kept saying, "Let's go. We've got to get to this guy." But we never could." The Marlins beat their intrastate rivals for the ninth time in 12 meetings over three seasons and improved to 5-2 in games between the teams at Tropicana Field. The Devil Rays are 4-4 in interleague play this season, but their 13-29 mark overall is the worst in the majors. The Devil Rays announced that 42,823 tickets were sold for the game after attendance was just 16,035 for the series opener on Friday night. The team said 30,000 tickets were purchased by charity group, and the 44,397-seat stadium was only about half full for the game. Floyd drove in Florida's first two runs with a single in the third and double in the fifth. One out later, Lowell hit his ninth homer off Yan for a 4-0 lead. Castillo's first homer in 212 games made it 5-0 in the sixth. Cornelius walked Miguel Cairo with one out in the third and Vaughn with one out in the fourth. Both Devil Rays baserunners were stranded at second as the 30-year-old right-hander breezed through the first six inning without allowing a hit. Notes: Floyd has reached base by hit, walk or being hit by a pitch in 37 consecutive games. ... Yan has allowed 17 homers in 74 2-3 innings. In his last four starts, the right-hander has allowed 20 earned runs and 31 hits in 19 1-3 innings. ... Castillo's third career homer came in his 1,228th big league at-bat. ... The Devil Rays have been outhomered 49-26 at home.
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