"It was apparent early that Felix Hernandez was having one of those nights on Friday when anything was possible - even a no-hitter.

Mariners manager Eric Wedge said his stuff was "electric." Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon raved about Hernandez's "Bugs Bunny changeup - it was diving off the table."

Hernandez himself said with a rueful smile, "It was going to be something special. I had a feeling."

In the end, however, it was just another agonizing loss for Hernandez and the Mariners, who fell 3-2 to the Rays at Tropicana Field.

One minute, Hernandez was sailing into the eighth inning, working on a one-hitter that could have been a no-no.

The next, he was watching the Rays bunch five hits in the eighth for two runs that sunk the Mariners.

Seattle started the inning up 2-1 by virtue of Kyle Seager's first career homer leading off the seventh. But the inning unraveled, most frustratingly on an infield single by Johnny Damon that Wedge thought should have been the third out of the inning.

"We gave it to them. That's the only way to put it," Wedge said. "Felix was outstanding tonight. He had great stuff. He was in control of the ballgame, probably set up to go the whole way. We gave it to them there in the eighth."

The Rays had Sam Fuld on first base with two outs when Damon hit a grounder to the left of third baseman Adam Kennedy, who flagged it but threw too late to first. Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist followed with run-scoring singles to give the Rays the sudden, and permanent, lead."