Rays defeat Mariners in 14th inning on Pena’s slide

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Carlos Pena isn’t the fastest runner, but after squandering several opportunities he represented Tampa Bay’s best chance to end a long night against the Seattle Mariners.

Pena scored from first base on Ben Zobrist’s 14th-inning double down the right-field line, sliding across home plate just ahead of Ichiro Suzuki’s throw to give the Rays a 4-3 victory Friday.

“With the ball being where it was and with Ichiro out there, I didn’t think we had much of a chance,” Zobrist said.

But Ichiro’s throw was off line and missed the cutoff man, forcing catcher Jesus Montero to field the ball on the first-base side of the plate.

Montero scrambled to get into position to make the tag, but Pena just got in under it.

“Missing the cutoff permitted that to happen,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “We got very fortuitous that particular moment.”

The Rays went 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position and stranded the potential tying runs in those situations in the 10th, 11th and 12th.

B.J. Upton homered and drove in two runs for Tampa Bay.

Pena singled off Tom Wilhelmsen with one out in the 14th, and Zobrist followed with his third hit of the game.

Jake McGee (3-2) pitched two-thirds of an inning to escape a jam in the top of the 14th and got the win. The run off Wilhelmsen (3-2) ended the reliever’s streak of 24 consecutive scoreless innings over 20 appearances.

Carlos Peguero hit his third homer in five career at-bats off James Shields, a two-run shot that gave the Mariners a 3-2 lead in the seventh. He homered twice against the Rays right-hander at Safeco Field on June 2, 2011, and hadn’t homered in a major league game since hitting one against the Miami Marlins later that month.

Upton homered off Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma in the sixth inning, then drove in a second run with an infield single to make it 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh.

Shields allowed three runs and four hits over 7 2/3 innings, ending a stretch of four consecutive starts in which he yielded at least 10 hits – the longest such streak in the A.L. since Dan Haren did it with Oakland in 2007.

“We just weren’t able to get anything going offensively in extra innings,” Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. “Our pitching staff did a great job.”

Ichiro tripled and Casper Wells doubled to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the first. Shields hit a batter and walked Kyle Seager to load the bases before escaping further damage by striking out Justin Smoak.

Shields settled down after the shaky beginning to retire 12 straight after the walk to Seager with two outs in the first.

The Mariners didn’t have another runner until shortstop Sean Rodriguez mishandled Dustin Ackley’s ground ball for an error with two outs in the fifth.

Iwakuma held the Rays scoreless through five innings before giving up two runs in the sixth on Upton’s ninth homer and Jeff Keppinger’s two-out RBI hit that deflected off third baseman Seager’s glove to briefly put Tampa Bay ahead 2-1.

Seattle regained the lead with the first hits off Shields since the first inning. Seager singled leading off the seventh, and Peguero followed with first homer since being promoted from Triple-A Tacoma on July 5.