It was a cloudy night at the Fens for the Sox and their offense as they ran into Scott Kazmir. It was actually a pitcher’s duel between Kazmir and Curt Schilling, not something you actually hear when the Devil Rays are involved. Kazmir went 7 innings and struck out 10 batters as the D’Rays scraped together a run off Schilling for a 1-0 win. Kazmir struck out 10 batters and the Sox never got a runner past second base in the game.
The Sox managed two hits in the first three innings while Kazmir struck out four. Schilling was cruising along as well as he only allowed a single to Delmon Young and a walk to Greg Norton in that same time frame.
After both squads managed a hit in the 4th inning, the Devil Rays got to Schilling for the only run of the night in the 5th. Norton led off with a double and went to third base on a Dioner Navarro sacrifice bunt. Norton came around to score on a Josh Wilson sacrifice fly to Bobby Kielty in right. Akinori Iwamura followed that with a single and he went to third on a Carl Crawford single. Schilling escaped any further damage as he got Carlos Peña to strikeout for the second time on the gray evening.
Schilling’s hard luck night ended after he pitched a perfect 6th inning. For the night, Schilling went the 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, the one run, 1 walk and he struck out 5.
The Sox threatened in the 7th in Kazmir’s final inning of work. Kielty led off with a single and then Kazmir got Youk for his 9th strikeout of the evening. Jason Varitek worked a one out walk but Kazmir followed that up with a strikeout of Jacoby Ellsbury, Kazmir’s 10th of the night. Alex Cora ended the inning by grounding into a fielder’s choice.
Bryan Corey worked the 7th for the Sox, allowing just a hit. Javier Lopez struck out the first two batters in the 8th and then Mike Timlin came on and struck out B.J. Upton.
Dan Wheeler worked the 8th inning and Al Reyes threw a 1-2-3 9th inning ending the game with a strikeout of Varitek.
Shockingly enough, the Devil Rays got good pitching tonight. They came into the game having the hottest offense for the past three weeks but they ran into Schilling, who took another tough loss. The Sox give the ball to Tim Wakefield and hope that he can continue his dominance of the Devil Rays.
Notes and musings:
If you thought the lineup looked a little funny tonight with Dustin Pedroia batting third and Mike Lowell, it was because Big Papi had the night off. His knee was bothering him and his career numbers (5 for 34) against Kazmir aren’t exactly the best. He said he will have knee surgery in the off-season to repair the problem.
Tina Cervasio was back on the job for NESN after having the day off yesterday.
Manny Ramirez was back in the dugout tonight. Still no word on his status.
Kevin Cash will catch Tim Wakefield tomorrow night since Doug Mirabell’s hamstring isn’t 100%.
Dice-K will be watched during his side session tomorrow and they will stress that he use all his pitches. Terry Francona said he hasn’t had 5 bad games but rather bad innings in those games.
Andy Garcia was in the crowd sitting next to Alfred Molina.
The Red Sox and A’s may open up the season in Japan next year according to this AP article.
