Jose Lopez's sharp move lifts M's over Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — An attentive Jose Lopez didn't take his eye off the ball as he watched it drop into the catcher's glove.

Everyone else in the ballpark did once the sixth-inning, foul pop-up was caught behind the plate. That included the first baseman, who paid little attention to base runner Lopez as he danced on and off the bag, and Tampa Bay catcher Shawn Riggans, who attempted to call timeout after the catch. Rays pitcher Gary Glover was looking at the umpire, the second baseman was preoccupied as well, and the fans in the seats were busy checking the scoreboard to see who the next hitter was.

Only Lopez seemed to notice the play was still live as he tagged up and headed to second base. A subsequent appeal to first by the Rays proved fruitless, and Lopez was thus positioned to score the second of two runs on a Richie Sexson single that gave Seattle a 6-5 lead it held to the end.

"Everybody had their backs to me," Lopez said after Tuesday night's victory, in front of 36,048 fans at a sold-out Tropicana Field, that halted his team's four-game losing streak. "Nobody saw me."

Nobody except for first-base coach Eddie Rodriguez. He could see what was unfolding as Adrian Beltre's pop-up drew in the infielders, and he counseled Lopez to pay attention. Turns out he didn't have to.

"He was standing on the bag and I'm telling him, 'Watch the play, watch the play, watch the play,' " Rodriguez said. "I think [Riggans] was asking for time, but they wouldn't give it to him because the ball was still in play. I just told Lopey, 'Get off, get off, get off,' and when he [Riggans] turned around, Lopez took off."

The Mariners, now 3-5, never looked back.

Roy Corcoran took over after six innings from left-handed starter Erik Bedard, who allowed five runs — three earned — while pitching for the first time in eight days. Corcoran pitched into the eighth, and lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith retired the final five batters of the game to preserve his first career save and Bedard's inaugural victory as a Mariner.

Lopez spent last season becoming baseball's poster child for how a lack of focus can derail a once-promising career. But Rodriguez said Lopez had to have his head in the game to do what he did on the bases in that sixth inning.

"He has to see how things are developing within a play and act accordingly," Rodriguez said. "And he did."

The Mariners second baseman collected three hits and a sacrifice fly to help spoil the Rays' home opener, while participating in the night's two biggest plays.

Besides his tag move, which prompted the Rays to intentionally walk Raul Ibanez to load the bases for Sexson, Lopez made a strong relay throw to third in the seventh inning to deny speedy B.J. Upton a triple.

Upton had doubled to right, and the ball took a funny hop off the corner wall on right fielder Brad Wilkerson. As Upton rounded the bags, Wilkerson threw to Lopez, who turned and fired a bullet to third baseman Beltre.

Upton beat the throw, but Beltre had his knee down, blocking the bag and preventing the runner from touching it. Upton was ruled out, and the crowd was furious for two innings after that, booing the umpiring crew every chance they had.

"I knew the guy would go to third base," Lopez said. "I had to catch the ball and throw hard."

Sexson had been yelling "Third base! Third base!"at Lopez from over at first base. He knew how critical the play would be.

"It's huge," Sexson said. "He did the work. I was just telling him the guy was going. It's a big play, because if he gets to third, he was going to be standing on third with only one out."

The lead had seesawed back and forth, with a mouth-guard-wearing Bedard yielding a solo homer to Riggans in the second that opened the scoring. The slumping Wilkerson helped put Seattle ahead 3-1 in the third with a two-run single to right-center, but Carlos Pena homered off Bedard and Willy Aybar singled in a run in the bottom of the frame to put Tampa Bay back in front.

A Beltre throwing error and a double steal of second and home by Jonny Gomes and Upton — the latter crossing the plate — put the Rays up 5-4 during a 35-pitch fifth inning by Bedard. Then Sexson, who had drawn a bases-loaded walk in the third, came through again.

Mariners manager John McLaren, relieved at his club's first road win, praised Lopez for his heads-up play overall and especially his mad dash for second.

"That was a huge play, absolutely," he said. "A very instinctive play. ... When you're the go-ahead run like that, you have to go for it."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners