Boggs Leaves Game After 2,997

Dave Eiland pitched six shutout innings and Wade Boggs inched closer to his 3,000th hit as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays snapped Seattle's six-game winning streak Wednesday night with a 7-1 win over the Mariners.

Mike DiFelice had a career-high four hits, including a home run, and scored three times for Tampa Bay. Fred McGriff hit his 26th homer and went 3-for-4 as the Devil Rays snapped a five-game losing streak and an eight-game road skid.

Boggs singled down the first-base line in the second for his only hit of the game. He went 1-for-3 and now has 2,997 career hits. The third baseman was replaced by Bobby Smith in the bottom of the fifth because of slight inflammation in his right knee.

Mariners starter Gil Meche, a 20-year-old rookie, was hit hard early. He allowed four runs and six hits in 1 2-3 innings.

The Devil Rays jumped on Meche (2-2) for two runs in the first when McGriff homered to right-center.

Tampa Bay added two more in the second. With two out, Aaron Ledesma scored on a wild pitch and Terrell Lowery followed with an RBI double. Boggs' single then chased the rookie.

In the fourth, the Devil Rays added an unearned run off reliever Tom Davey to ake it 5-0. Difelice opened the inning with a double and scored on third baseman Russ Davis' error.

Difelice hit a two-run homer in the ninth, his fourth of the year, to make it 7-0 before Edgar Martinez erased the shutout in the bottom of the inning with an RBI groundout.

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