"Carlos Peña said he's not one to act, even if it'd help him get on base.

And Peña felt like he may have paid the price for being honest in a momentum-swinging, controversial call by home-plate umpire Tim Welke during the first inning of Wednesday's 5-1 loss to Texas.

With the bases loaded and one out, Peña said a 2-and-1 pitch from Rangers ace lefty Cliff Lee "nicked" him on the top of his right hand before going in the glove of catcher Bengie Molina. Peña said he turned to Welke and told him the ball hit him — which would have forced in a run — "and, all of a sudden, (Welke) said, 'Foul ball!' "

Peña and manager Joe Maddon argued to no avail. Two pitches later, Peña struck out looking, followed by a Rocco Baldelli strikeout, thwarting one of the Rays' best threats against Lee.

"It didn't crush me in the hand, so it's not like I'm going to start hopping up and down and acting like it did," Peña said. "If I wouldn't have said anything, (Welke) would have called it a straight ball and it'd been a 3-1 count. It was just one of those calls that went against us."

Maddon felt it was a "delayed call" by Welke. Welke "said he was waiting for (Peña's) reaction," Maddon said. "I said, 'Well his reaction was that he got hit.' "

Players from both sides agreed on one thing: The ball hit something.

"When I threw the pitch, I knew it either hit his hand or the bat," Lee said. "I could hear it from the mound. When he did not start jumping around and didn't want to go to first base, I had a pretty good feeling it hit the bat. He wasn't really arguing that strongly, so I'm willing to bet it hit the bat." "