Jon Lester dominated the Tampa Bay Rays for 7 2/3 innings and Jonathan Papelbon finished them off as the Boston Red Sox won 3-0 in front of the MLB-record 456th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park. The win for the Red Sox moves them to just ½ a game behind the Rays for first place in the American League East.
Jon Lester dominated the Rays to pick up his 14th win of the season.
Lester scattered 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out a career-high tying 9 on 119 pitches to pick up his 14th win of the season. All of Lester’s pitches were nasty as he good location and command. Papelbon struck out 3 and gave up a hit to pick up his 36th save.
Coco Crisp continued his hot streak as he was perfect at the plate going 3-for-3 with a stolen base. Jason Bay was 2-for-3 with a solo home run and Mark Kotsay was 2-for-3. David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis added the other RBI for the local nine.
Lester’s night started with a walk to Akinori Iwamura but B.J. Upton’s bunt attempt was popped up and caught by Lester who threw to Youk for a double play. He got Carlos Peña to ground out to end the inning.
The Red Sox would get all the runs they needed in the bottom half of the 1st.
Kotsay worked a leadoff walk off of Rays starter Edwin Jackson. After a Dustin Pedroia line out, Big Papi hit a double off the wall that Kotsay read perfectly allowing him to score all the way from first base for a 1-0 lead. It was quickly 2-0 as Youk’s single scored Big Papi as Youk would be thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw. Jackson then left a fastball out over the plate for Bay who crushed it off the light pole in left center to give the Red Sox a 3-0 lead.
Both Lester and Jackson were dealing through the next 3 innings as both got stronger as the game went on.
The Red Sox had a good opportunity to put some runs on the board in the 5th.
Crisp reached on a 1-out single and went to third on a Kotsay single but Kotsay was thrown out at second as Wily Aybar took the throw at third and got him at second. Jackson got out of the inning by getting Pedroia to fly out.
Lester’s worst inning numbers was his last inning of work in the 8th.
After getting Fernando Perez to line out and Iwamura to strike out, Ben Zobrist narrowly missed a home run off the Green Monster but a strong throw by Bay held him to a single. Peña followed with a ground rule double to right to chase Lester from the game. Lester would leave the game to standing ovation from the Fenway faithful as Papelbon made his way in. Papelbon came in throwing cheddar as he struck out Rocco Baldelli to end the inning. It was Baldelii’s 4th strikeout of the night.
Jonathan Papelbon reacts after striking out Gabe Gross to end the game and get his 36th save.
Papelbon worked around a 2-out single in the 9th to strikeout Gabe Gross to end the game.
Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the ball tomorrow night as he will try to outduel Scott Kazmir and hope he gets some run support to push the Red Sox back into first place in the AL East.
Notes and musings:
Rays @ Red Sox 9.8.08 boxscore
If you missed the “Thank you videos” for the 456th straight sellout, you can check them out here.
A look at the Red Sox numbers at Fenway Park during these 455 regular season games:
W-L Record: 296-159 (.651)
Batting Average: .297 (4627-15587)
Runs: 2724 Home Runs: 529
ERA: 4.24 (1947 ER/4136.0 IP)
Pitches Thrown By Red Sox: 66,774
Total Home Attendance: 16,298,530
The Red Sox today recalled RHP Bartolo Colon, C George Kottaras, and 1B-OF Chris Carter from Triple-A Pawtucket giving them 32 players on the active roster.
J.D. Drew was also activated from the disabled list before the game.
RHP David Aardsma is scheduled to be sent on rehab assignment for Lowell when the Spinners play at Batavia in Game 2 of the New York Penn League playoffs on Tuesday.
Sox on streaks:
Coco Crisp has a 10-game hitting streak
Jeff Bailey has a 6-game hitting streak
Sean Casey has a 4-game hitting streak
Mike Lowell saw his 3-game hitting streak end
Jason Bay has a 4-game hitting streak
David Ortiz has a 3-game hitting streak
Kevin Youkilis has a 3-game hitting streak.
