Ortiz, Nats down sloppy Rays

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Washington right-hander Ramon Ortiz and Tampa Bay's defense made sure the Nationals ended interleague play on a positive note.

Ortiz recorded his first win in four starts by allowing just one run on four hits in seven innings as the Nationals downed the Devil Rays 6-2 yesterday at RFK Stadium.

The only negative aspect of an otherwise outstanding performance by Ortiz (6-6) was that he hit a career-high three batters.

With Livan Hernandez battling a bum knee, John Patterson experiencing "dead arm" syndrome and veteran right-hander Pedro Astacio scheduled to make his season debut today against the Florida Marlins, the Nationals (35-48) needed a good performance from Ortiz.

"I can't say to you that it's my best [outing] because I've thrown in a lot of games and I've thrown very good," Ortiz said. "I used all my pitches today -- my change, my slider, my fastball on both sides -- outside corner, inside corner."

The Nationals led 4-0 in the sixth inning when the last-place Devil Rays came unglued. It started with what looked like a harmless sacrifice bunt. With one out, Ortiz bunted Marlon Anderson to second base. Anderson then advanced to third on a throwing error to first by Devil Rays shortstop Tomas Perez.

With Royce Clayton at the plate, Devil Rays reliever Jon Switzer uncorked a wild pitch that scored Anderson. A throwing error by catcher Dioner Navarro to Switzer, who was trying to cover the plate on the wild pitch, allowed Ortiz to score from second.

The Devil Rays weren't done committing wacky plays in the inning. Clayton's routine fly ball to right was simply dropped by right fielder Russell Branyan. The good news for the AL East cellar dwellars was that Branyan's error at least didn't allow another run to score. But the Devil Rays did tie a team record with four errors in the game.

When asked whether he has seen a wild inning like the one the Devil Rays produced in the sixth, Nationals manager Frank Robinson said, "Yeah, we're usually on the other end of it."

The Nationals finished interleague play with a 7-11 record after going 12-6 against the AL last year. By taking two of three games from the Devil Rays (35-47), the Nationals won their second straight series at RFK.