By JOE BYRD

Sports Writer

A bad fifth inning sent Greeneville to its eighth loss in the last nine games on Sunday. One bad frame has been the culprit in just about every defeat this year, and this time it opened the door for Princeton to win 5-4 in 10 innings at Pioneer Park.

"We keep having that one bad inning, one bad play. We don't make one play, and it hurts us bad," said Greeneville manager Rodney Linares.

Leading 2-1 in the top of the fifth, the Astros gave up three unearned runs following an error at second that let the leadoff batter on base and a wild pitch and a passed ball that allowed two runs to score with two away.

The Astros rallied to push the game into extra innings when Ricardo Bonfante got a two-out RBI pinch hit single in the bottom of the ninth, but then the Rays scored one in the top of the 10th and held on to win the series opener.

"It's a tough loss," said Linares. "We battled back. We had opportunities. I have to commend the guys. They don't stop. They keep battling. All the games that we've lost except that Johnson City game, we had the go-ahead run on base or the go-ahead run at the plate. What else can you do except keep going out there?"

Greeneville got off to a good start behind the arm of Jordan Lyles and the bat of Frank Almonte.

Devon Torrence legged out an infield single to put one aboard, and Almonte cracked an RBI triple to deep center. Kody Hinze drove a fly ball to the track to score Almonte, staking the Astros to an early 2-0 lead.

Lyles threw four strong innings. He struck out four, walked one and gave up two hits, throwing 36 strikes on 52 pitches before reaching his limit.

The Astros have the youngster on a short leash. Linares said he was on a limit of four innings or 60 pitches Sunday. That will be upped to five innings or 75 pitches in his next start.

"He's really young," Linares said. "We've got a lot of high hopes on him. He threw the ball well. He made one mistake all game. You can't say anything bad about the kid. He's pitching his heart out."

Princeton scored a run in the second off Lyles when Elias Otero hit a triple to right and was driven in by Mayo Acosta.

The Astros couldn't do much with Rays starter Albert Suarez, but held the lead until the dreaded fifth.

D.J. Jones led off the inning and reached on an error at second. Princeton's Jusitn Reynolds and Diogenes Luis got back-to-back one-out singles off Astros reliever Arcenio Leon to load the bases.

Princeton shortstop Tim Beckham, the number one overall selection in this year's draft, drove in a run with a sac fly that tied the game, and then disaster hit for the Astros. Princeton took the lead when Reynolds scored from third on a wild pitch and Luis did the same on a passed ball.

Greeneville pulled a run back in the bottom of the sixth when Jay Austin led off with a base hit to left and was driven in on a single to right by Hinze that made it 4-3.

The Astros rallied to tie it with two away in the bottom of the ninth when Nathan Metroka reached on an error and Bonfante drove a pinch hit single up the middle.

"Bonfante has been giving me a little bit of a spark," Linares said. "I've got a lot of confidence in him coming off the bench and even playing every day."

A win wasn't in the cards, though, when Princeton (6-7) took advantage of a hit batter, an error and what Linares felt was a bad call that got him ejected in the top of the 10th.

The loss drops Greeneville to 4-9. Hinze, who drove in half of the Astros' runs, said the record is misleading.

"We are a whole lot better," he said. "We are playing a lot of one-run and two-run games. We just have to keep playing hard, and we'll win."

The Astros get their chance tonight in game two of the three-game series (7 p.m.). Linares said all Greeneville has to do is focus on producing nine good innings and things will turn around.

"We'll get 'em tomorrow," the manager said. "We've been playing really hard. These guys, they are pretty good. We can compete in this league and win."