Josh Beckett threw six strong innings as Coco Crisp and Mike Lowell sparked the offense in a 15-4 rout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The loss was the 11 consecutive loss for the Devil Rays. The win also gave Beckett his 12th of the season, tying him with C.C. Sabbathia for the league lead.
The Red Sox pounded out 21 hits. Every Sox starter had at least 1 hit with the exception of Eric Hinske. Crisp had 2 hits with 5 RBI, including a grand slam. Lowell had 5 hits with 5 RBI, including a 3-run HR. David “Big Papi” Ortiz added 3 hits to the cause as well.
Beckett cruised through the first 2 innings. He struck out the side in the first inning, and struck out 2 of 4 batters in the second. Only Ty Wigginton reached with a single in the 2nd inning.
The first inning for D’Rays starter J.P. Howell was an ugly one. J.D. Drew led off with an infield single and went to second on a Dustin Pedroia single. Howell got Big Papi to ground into a fielder’s choice, retiring Pedroia at second. Manny Ramirez brought home Drew with a single of his own, putting the Sox up 1-0. Mike Lowell singled to load up the bases for Jason Varitek. Varitek worked a walk off of Howell bringing in Big Papi for the second run of
the inning. With the bases loaded still, Coco took a Howell offering and planted it in the last row of the Green Monster seats for a grand slam and a 6-0 Sox lead. Howell got Hinske to strikeout for the second out of the inning. Howell then walked Julio Lugo. Drew, up for the second time in the inning, hit another single chasing Howell from the game. Brian Stokes came in and got Pedroia to fly out ending a big 1st inning for the Sox.
Stokes didn’t have much luck either in the 2nd inning. Big Papi lead off the inning with a double. Stokes then walked Manny. Stokes proceeded to serve up Lowell for a 3-run homer down the leftfield line that just stayed fair, staking the Sox to a 9-0 lead. The hits kept coming as Varitek hit a single. Crisp grounded into a fielder’s choice, retiring ‘Tek at second base. Stokes followed the out with a walk of Hinske and then got Lugo and Drew to flyout to Delmon Young in center.
After another long wait, Beckett came out for the 3rd inning and immediately gave up a lead-off double to Jonny Gomes. Dionar Navarro moved Gomes to third with a groundout to Hinske at first. Akinori Iwamura worked a walk and stole second with Carl Crawford at the plate. Crawford ended up being another victim of Beckett via the strikeout. Brendon Harris brought Gomes and Iwamura in with a 2-run double, cutting the lead to 9-2. Beckett rebounded and got Carlos Peña to strikeout. C Peña would strikeout four times on the night.
In the 3rd inning, the local nine made D’Rays pitcher Jon Switzer their next victim. Pedroia led off with a line out to rightfield. Big Papi followed with a single, his second hit of the game. Manny smashed a double moving Papi over to third. Lowell brought in Papi with a single, moving Manny to third. Vartiek hit one off the end of his bat, that Switzer had no play on, loading the bases for Coco again. Switzer walked Coco bringing in the second run of the inning, making it 11-2. Switzer proceed to get Hinske to foul out for the second out. That brought Lugo to the plate with a chance to deliver and he did. He hit a 2-run single bringing in Lowell and the Captain, giving the Sox a commanding 13-2 lead. Switzer got out of the inning by striking out Drew.
Beckett had a little bit of drama in the 4th inning. He got Wigginton and Greg Norton out and then allowed a single to Young. He then plunked Gomes with a fastball in the elbow. As Gomes was walking to first, he shouted something out towards Beckett. Nothing happened as Beckett turned his back and walked to the mound and Gomes went down to first. Beckett got Navarro to end the inning. After the inning, Lugo was talking to Gomes probably saying to Gomes to chill man. Lugo was with the Devil Rays last season before he got traded to the Dodgers.
The Sox would go quietly in their half of the 4th inning as only Pedroia reached. He was retired on a double play that Big Papi hit into. Manny ended the inning by fouling out to first. Both teams were quiet in the 5th inning as well.
Young led off the 6th inning with a double off of Beckett. This brought Gomes to the plate with the crowd anticipating something to happen. Nothing would happen as Gomes would fly out. Navarro followed with a infield single but ending up colliding with Beckett covering the bag. Navarro’s face hit Beckett’s shoulder and Navarro was left laying on the ground knocked out. Navarro ended up having a broken jaw after x-rays were taken. Young came into score on the play, making it 13-3. Raùl Casanova came into run for Navarro and would continue in the game as the catcher. Beckett got Crawford to fly out ending the inning.
Boston would get their final 2 runs in the 6th inning off of Jason Hammel, the 5th D’Rays pitcher of the night. Wily Mo, in for Drew, led off with a fly out. Hammel walked Pedroia and gave up a single to Big Papi bringing the cleanup hitter, Jacoby Ellsbury to the plate. Ellsbury, who had come in for Manny in the 5th, lined a single, loading up the bases for Lowell. Lowell singled, his 4th hit of the night, which brought in Pedroia for the 14th run of the night. Doug Mirabelli came in to pinch-hit for Varitek and was walked by Hammel. The walk brought in Big Papi from third for the 15th and final run of the night for the Sox. Hammel got out of the inning by getting Crisp to ground into a double play.
Kyle Synder took over for Beckett in the 7th inning and allowed the D’Rays 4th and final run. Synder got Josh Wilson to ground out and C Peña to strikeout. Synder then walked Jorge Cantu and Norton. Young would bring Cantu home with a single, making it 15-4. With Gomes at the plate, Synder uncorked a wild pitch advancing the runners each up a base. Gomes ended up fouling out.
Beckett went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits. He walked one and struck out a career-high 9 batters.
The Sox finished the homestand 5-2, winning the last 4 games. They now head to Detroit for a 3-game series. Julian Tavarez takes the mound tomorrow and will be opposed by Andrew Miller, the Tigers 1st round pick in the 2006 draft.
Notes and Musings:
Jacoby Ellsbury was sent back down to Pawtucket after the game. In his brief stint with the Sox, he was 6 for 16 (.375), 2 walks, 3 RBI and a stolen base. He will be participating in the Futures Game on Sunday in San Francisco.
Beckett had been winless in his past 3 starts at the Fens.
Brendan Donnelly is back throwing again. He will have a long toss session and a bullpen session in the coming days.
Joel Piñero will throw in a game on Wednesday for the Lowell Spinners as part of his rehab.
Coco’s grand slam was the second of his career.
The Red Sox signed their top pick Nick Hagadone today. He was assigned to Lowell. They also signed 8 international free agents to minor league contracts. Outfielder Che-Hsuan, an 18-year old from Chinese Taipei, is signed for 2007. He was assigned to the Gulf Coast Red Sox. The rest of the signings are signed for 2008.
- Michael Almanzar, 3b, Dominican Republic
- Justin Erasmus, rhp, Australia
- Rafael Espinoza, ss, Dominican Republic
- Joantoni Garcia, ss, Venezuela
- Javier Gutierrez, of, Venezuela
- Roman Mendez, rhp, Dominican Republic
- Jesus Rojas, c, Venezuela
Tonight was the 22nd time the Red Sox have scored more than 10 runs against Tampa Bay in the history of the series.
22 of Tampa’s 33 wins are of the comeback variety.
Josh Beckett had waits 27 minutes in the 1st, 20 minutes in the 2nd, and 24 minutes in the 3rd inning. So that means the Red Sox were at the plate for an hour and eleven minutes.
Jacoby Ellsbury took over for Manny in the 5th inning.
Raymond, the Devil Rays mascot was in the stands. He is not liked by Jerry Remy due to an incident that happened in Tampa last year.
Coco has played 124 consecutive errorless games in centerfield on 346 chances.
The Red Sox fans gave Hideki Okajima a standing ovation before the start of the 6th inning, honoring him for his All-Star nomination. Okajima won the fan voting for the 32nd man.
While Okajima was getting the standing O, RemDawg was getting a cortisone shot in his shoulder in the NESN booth.
Last time a Red Sox player hit 2 grand slams in the same was game was in 2003 when Bill Mueller, current Dodgers hitting coach, did it against Texas.
RemDawg said Kyle Snyder wore #38. He wears #39. We obviously know who wears 38.
The 21 hits tonight are a season high. The previous high was 18 back against Atlanta in the first game of the doubleheader.
Mike Lowell’s 5 hits were a career high.
Coco came up to the plate 4 times tonight with the bases loaded.
RemDawg and Orsillo spent the bottom of the 8th debating who was Top Dawg of the game. RemDawg can’t give co-players of the game with Lowell and Crisp. So Orsillo said give it to Terry Francona for making out the lineup.
