Red Sox News & Notes – 7/18

Infielder Dustin Pedroia(notes) #15 of the Boston Red Sox singles in the winning run against the Tampa Bay Rays during the game at Tropicana Field on July 17, 2011 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

For the first eight innings last night, neither the Boston Red Sox nor the Tampa Bay Rays could mount anything substantial against the starters Jeff Niemann and Josh Beckett respectively. And all though the Red Sox had numerous opportunities to put the game away after that, it took until the 16th inning for the first run of the game to cross the plate.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, the run scored was by them.

The Red Sox managed just five hits last night off of nine Rays pitchers. Three of them though came off the bat of the white-hot Dustin Pedroia who oh by the way flashed some serious leather last night as well.

After leaving the bases loaded in the 9th and 11th innings as well as runners on base in the 10th, 13th and 15th innings, they finally broke through against Adam Russell in the 16th.

Josh Reddick worked a leadoff walk and was sacrificed to second by Jason Varitek. Marco Scutaro hit a high chopper in the infield that he beat out with Reddick heading to third. Jacoby Ellsbury made the second out of the inning when he flew out to left on a ball that was not deep enough to score Reddick from third base.

Russell fell behind Pedroia 1-0 and then saw Pedey take his next pitch the opposite way for a single to bring in Reddick for the first and what turned out to be the only run of the night.

Jonathan Papelbon made sure the Red Sox would get the win as he worked a 1-2-3 16th to preserve the win for Alfredo Aceves as he picked up his 21st save at approximately 1:54 a.m. this morning.

Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett(notes) smiles as he walks back to the dugout after striking out Tampa Bay Rays' Johnny Damon(notes) to end the top of the sixth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 17, 2011, in St. Petersburg, Fla. If there were any worries about the left knee of Beckett, I really don’t think there should be now. He never showed any signs of discomfort during the game other than the two balls that his ankle.

The last time Beckett faced the Rays, he threw a complete-game one-hit shutout at the Trop. The only hit in that game was an infield single. It was the same thing on Sunday night as well. The only hit Beckett would allow in eight innings of work was an infield single by Evan Longoria and that came back in the 1st inning.

Beckett was like a surgeon last night. He was throwing his fastball with pinpoint accuracy to where ever Jason Varitek was calling for it. He was also able to use other his pitches effectively due to the strength of his fastball. Hopefully there will be no lingering effects with the knee when Beckett awakes today.

The outing from Beckett was just what the doctor ordered. With the rotation in a state of flux right now, Beckett’s strong outing makes sure there is one less thing to worry about. And with Jon Lester slated to come back on July 26th, the band should all be back together.

Now we just need some strong outings from Tim Wakefield, Kyle Weiland and Andrew Miller over the next three days in Baltimore.

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

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Sweet 16! Sox outlast Rays [Boston Globe]

They’d like him up to speed [Boston Globe]

Date is set for Lester’s return [Boston Globe]

Red Sox go deep to beat Rays [Boston Herald]

Better late than never [Boston Herald]

Orioles’ anger at Red Sox hasn’t cooled [Boston Herald]

Dustin Pedroia leads 16-inning, 1-0 win — and ‘Muddy Chicken’ is born [Clubhouse Insider]

Jason Varitek after catching 16 innings: ‘I feel like a spring chicken’ [Clubhouse Insider]

Sox win in 16, 1-0 [CSNNE.com]

Notes: Beckett shines, Reddick climbs [CSNNE.com]

Pedroia wins Boston Marathon [ESPN Boston]