Monday night it was the Tampa Bay Rays who were given the “Flop at the Trop” moniker after the Boston Red Sox pounded them. Tonight it was the Rays who returned the favor as they killed the knuckleball of Tim Wakefield to beat the Red Sox 10-3 in front of 36,048 at Tropicana Field.
The win for the Rays moves them to 2 games ahead of the Red Sox for first place in the AL East and all but assures them of their first ever playoff spot.
Tim Wakefield was brutal tonight giving up 6 runs in 2 1/3 innings.
Wakefield just didn’t have it tonight against a franchise that he has owned over his career. He lasted just 2 1/3 innings giving up 6 runs on 6 hits. He had no walks and struck out 2. Devern Hansack worked 1/3 of an inning allowing 2 runs on a hit and a walk. Javier Lopez didn’t retire anyone as he gave up a hit and walk.
David Aardsma worked 1 1/3 innings with just a hit allowed. Manny Delcarmen struck out 3 and walked 1 in 2 innings while Hideki Okajima struck out 2 in an inning of work. David Pauley allowed 2 runs on 3 hits in 1/3 of an inning and Chris Smith got the final two outs.
David Ortiz was the Red Sox offense as he drove in all 3 runs on 2 home runs. Jacoby Ellsbury went 2-for-4 while Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis had the other hits in the losing effort.
Things started out nicely for the Red Sox in the top of the 1st against Rays starter Matt Garza.
Ellsbury led off the inning with a single and after a Pedroia fly out, Big Papi gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead with a monstrous blast that never came down as it got stuck in the last catwalk out in left center.
Akinori Iwamura got things started for the Rays in the 1st with a single. He then stole second and went to third on a Jason Bartlett single. Carlos Peña knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to cut the Red Sox lead to 2-1. Wakefield got the second out of the inning when Evan Longoria flew out. With Wily Aybar at the dish, Bartlett stole second but it wouldn’t matter as Aybar crushed a Wakefield knuckleball to put the Rays up 3-2.
Wakefield started the 2nd inning with a strikeout of Justin Ruggiano. Gabe Gross and Fernando Perez followed with back-to-back home runs to push the lead to 5-2.
In the 3rd inning the game seemingly got away from the Red Sox.
Wily Aybar knocked in 3 runs with 3 hits for the Rays.
Wakefield got Peña for the first out of the inning and Longoria followed with a double to chase Wake from the game. Hansack came in and gave up a single to Aybar that scored Longoria for a 6-2 Rays lead. Aybar went to second on the throw and with last night’s hero Dioner Navarro at the plate, Hansack’s pick-off attempt went into the outfield allowing Aybar to get to third. Hansack ended up walking Navarro and struck out Ruggiano before giving way to Lopez.
Lopez came in and booted a grounder from Gross that allowed Aybar to score. Perez singled in Navarro to make it 8-2 Rays with Gross stopping at third. Lopez walked Iwamura and Terry Francona went out to the mound for his 4th pitcher of the inning in Aardsma. The inning finally ended as Aardsma got Bartlett to ground back to him.
Big Papi added his second home run of the night to lead off the 4th to cut the lead to 8-3 but that’s as close as the Red Sox would get as the Rays would add 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th off of Pauley.
The Red Sox are off tomorrow as they travel tonight to Toronto for the last 3 road games of the regular season. While a playoff berth is in their grasp, the Red Sox need to take at least 2-of-3 this weekend. Paul Byrd starts on Friday night for the Sox and he will be opposed by Red Sox killer A.J. Burnett.
Notes and musings:
Red Sox @ Rays 9.17.08 boxscore
Orlando Magic forward/center Dwight Howard and former Skank/Devil Ray/Red Sox 3B Wade “Hair Club for Men” Boggs threw out ceremonial first pitches.
Tuesday marked the 6th time in 2008 that the Red Sox have lost on the road in the 9th inning or later, the 1st walk-off defeat since August 28 at New York. It was the 14th time that Boston has lost in the opponents’ final at bat.
The 2-1 defeat dropped the Red Sox to 3-18 in one-run road decisions with losses in 18 of the last 19 such contests beginning April 25. Of those 18 defeats, 5 have taken place at Tropicana Field. Club is 18-22 overall in games decided by a run.
Sox on streaks:
Jacoby Ellsbury has a 9-game hitting streak
Sean Casey saw his 5-game hitting streak end
Dustin Pedroia has a 3-game hitting streak
Jason Bay has a 3-game hitting streak
Mike Lowell has a 3-game hitting streak
