ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays lefthander Tony Saunders is abandoning his comeback attempt after breaking his pitching arm on Thursday night for the second time in 18 months.

"I can't do it again," he said at an emotional news conference this morning. "Not physically or mentally, but I don't know what's going to happen. I want my health. This time, just breaking it and not having any nerve damage or anything else could be a blessing because I'll still have my health, whereas last time, I didn't have that."

Making his fifth rehabilitation start for the Class A St. Petersburg Devil Rays, Saunders crumpled off the mound and fell to the grass in obvious pain in the third inning of Thursday night's game against the Clearwater Phillies.

Club officials confirmed that Saunders again fractured the humerus in the "same general area" as he did on May 26, 1999.

"When it first happened, the pain was the same, but then it started wearing off, I guess because I didn't do anything to the nerve," he said today. "It made it a lot easier. I am more comfortable this time. I am not in hardly as much pain. I still had pain, but not like last time."

Pitching in a driving rain, Saunders allowed three hits and a home run before facing Clearwater's Skip Kiil leading off the third. After throwing three straight balls, Saunders uncorked a pitch that sailed halfway between the dugout and backstop. He immediately clutched his left arm and fell to the ground, writhing.

"I never thought about it," Saunders said of possibly re-injuring the arm. "It was something that I didn't want to think about because it wouldn't have let me do what I needed to get myself back. I told myself the whole way that if it's going to happen, then I'm going to do it going after it and not being passive about it. It just didn't work out."

Saunders first broke his humerus on May 26, 1999 while throwing a pitch in the third inning of an 8-6 loss to the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field. He also fell to the turf in pain in a scene eerily reminiscent of San Francisco Giants lefthander Dave Dravecky's broken arm in 1989. Dravecky later had his arm amputated due to cancer.

The 6-2, 220-pound Saunders was hoping to return for his fourth major league season. He has a 13-24 career mark with a 4.56 ERA.

Saunders was 3-3 with a 6.43 ERA in 1999 and came within four outs of pitching the first no-hitter in Devil Rays' history on April 22. He spent his rookie campaign with the 1997 World Series champion Florida Marlins, going 4-6 in 21 starts.

Cleveland's John Smiley (1997) and Cincinnati's Tom Browning (1994), both lefthanders, also have suffered broken arms while pitching.

Asked if he had been offered a job in the Devil Rays' organization, Saunders would not speculate on his future.

"Like I said earlier about the organization, they are still standing behind me," he said. "I'm not going to win any more ballgames for them, but they are still behind me."