Red Sox News & Notes – 6/15

Boston Red Sox's Carl Crawford (13) grounds out to first base in his first at-bat off Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher James Shields during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 14, 2011, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Crawford, a former Ray, is playing in his game at Tropicana Field since leaving the Rays. Catching for Tampa Bay is John Jaso.

Well it definitely wasn’t the return that Carl Crawford was hoping to have in his return to his old stomping grounds at Tropicana Field. He ended up going 0-for-3 against his old team the Tampa Bay Rays.

But more importantly, the Boston Red Sox saw their nine-game hitting streak come to an end with a 4-0 loss to the right arm of James Shields and the Rays on Tuesday night.

It’s not like the Red Sox didn’t have chances against Shields who allowed just five hits and three walks while picking up the complete game win. They did get them but obviously from looking at the final score, they didn’t take advantage of them.

The Red Sox had Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez at first and third base with one out in the 1st inning before Shields struck Kevin Youkilis. After a walk to David Ortiz, the aforementioned Crawford grounded out to Casey Kotchman to end the threat.

In 3rd inning, Ellsbury led off the inning with a single which extended his hitting streak to 11 games. After Dustin Pedroia flew out, Gonzalez picked up his second single of the night. This time the inning ended when Youk grounded into a inning-ending double play.

Then in the 5th inning after a J.D. Drew single, Marco Scutaro flew out to center. The inning ended when Shields induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Ellsbury. Pretty much the same thing happended in the sixth inning after Gonzalez’s third single of the night when Youk grounded into his second inning-ending double play of the game.

The Red Sox would only get one more chance in the 8th but they wasted a one out walk to Scutaro by seeing Ellsbury flying out and Pedroia striking out.

And it wasn’t like Tim Wakefield was all that bad.

Up until the 5th inning, he matched zeroes with Shields until Justin Ruggiano took a knuckler out of the park. The Rays added another run in the 6th on the strength of two passed balls by Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Tommy Hottovy struggled for the first since being called up as he gave up a double to Matthew Joyce in the 8th and then hit Evan Longoria. Kotchman chased him from the game with a RBI single. Alfredo Aceves came in and after recording an out, gave up an RBI single to John Jaso that provided the final margin.

Just another night of missed opportunities for the Red Sox. And with Shields having his changeup really working for him, it made the job all that harder for the Red Sox. Maybe it was the day off that killed the momentum, maybe it wasn’t.

But when you look at things, the Red Sox still are 9-1 in their last 10 games and 9-2 for the month of June. The lead is still 2.5 games over the Yankees who won and 3.5 games over the Rays.

We’ll be back later with tonight’s lineups, batter/pitcher matchups and links from the day. But for now, enjoy the overnight links by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

For Red Sox, Miller ‘dilemma’ is a luxury [Alex Speier – WEEI.com]

Shields silences Red Sox [Boston Globe]

Maddon beams about Rays [Boston Globe]

Julien fan base hits home [Boston Globe]

Miller on the way up? [Boston Globe]

Carl, Sox come up empty [Boston Herald]

No consolation for Wake [Boston Herald]

Bruins’ Game 7 brings back memories for Red Sox [Boston Herald]

Decision day for Miller [Boston Herald]

No love lost between Rays fans, Carl Crawford [Boston Herald]

Anything but a normal day for Carl Crawford [Boston Herald]