Tampa Bay Devil Rays

The defining moment of Sunday's 8-5 loss to the Marlins came in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Lou Piniella strolled to the mound to take the baseball from starter Casey Fossum.

The left-hander had pitched well in his second start since joining the rotation from the bullpen, holding the Marlins hitless for four innings before wilting in the heat that made it feel like a midsummer day.

The Rays' manager handed the ball to strapping reliever Seth McClung, who was asked to protect a 2-1 lead with runners on first and second and no outs.

Stepping in to hit was Miguel Cabrera, the National League's leading hitter.

McClung began the year with the Rays but did not pitch well, compiling a 12.19 ERA in nine games, which resulted in his being optioned to Triple-A Durham on April 29. McClung wasn't recalled until May 14, when Rob Bell went on the disabled list.

Prior to Sunday's game, McClung had appeared in three games and had not been scored upon since his return to the Rays.

Thus the right-hander had the look of a young man with a renewed level of confidence while getting ahead of Cabrera, 1-2, in the count.

McClung continued to bear down on Cabrera, getting the Marlins' left fielder to bloop the ball weakly to right field. Just what the doctor ordered for the Rays, right? Wrong.

Second baseman Jorge Cantu appeared ready to camp under the ball while right fielder Alex Sanchez and first baseman Travis Lee converged on the ball as well. Cantu glanced away for an instant, and the ball landed on the right-field grass. Now the bases were loaded.

Once again Piniella walked onto the field, this time to talk to first-base umpire Jim Reynolds about his not declaring the infield fly rule on Cabrera's hit. Marlins manager Jack McKeon had already been tossed earlier in the game for arguing balls and strikes, would Piniella join him? Perhaps there'd be a tossed base or some dirt kicked on the umpire's shoes?

No. Piniella made his point and quietly returned to the dugout.

"I thought [the call] was questionable," said Piniella. "That's what I was discussing with the umpire. I've seen infield flies called on very similar plays. His understanding was that neither player was fully camped under the ball. Regardless, it should have been caught. ... I think both players called for it, and it fell."

McClung then received his second bad break when he threw a 1-2 curveball to the next hitter, Juan Encarnacion. The pitch appeared to be strike three, but umpire Kerwin Danley called it ball two.

"He didn't call it a strike, so it wasn't," said McClung. Encarnacion doubled on the next pitch to drive home two for a 3-2 Marlins lead.

"You catch a popup and strike the next guy out, then you're out of the inning," said Piniella.

Instead, the Marlins got busy, and when the dust cleared, they had sent 12 batters to the plate in a seven-run inning that led to a defeat of the Rays in front of an announced crowd of 28,391 and completed a weekend sweep of their in-state rivals