Jonathan Papelbon came into a bases loaded no out situation in the 8th inning and got the job done as the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-4 in front of 17,692 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL on Tuesday night.
After a Kevin Youkilis solo home run in the 8th gave the Red Sox a 7-2 lead, Hideki Okajima came in and didn’t retire a batter as all five batters he faced reached base with two of them scoring. Papelbon came in and got B.J. Upton to strike out for the first out.
Jason Bartlett followed with a liner to center that Jacoby Ellsbury made a sliding catch on. Pat Burrell got caught up in no man’s land as he wasn’t sure if Ellsbury made the catch and didn’t tag up. Papelbon got Carl Crawford to foul out to Jason Bay in left to end the threat in the 8th.
After the Red Sox added a run when Alex Gonzalez singled and Ellsbury brought him in with a triple to make it 8-4, Papelbon got Ben Zobrist to line out and then struck out Evan Longoria and Carlos Peña to pick up 33rd save of the season.
The win for the Red Sox keeps them 6.5 games behind the Yankees for first place in the AL East. The Texas Rangers actually picked up a half game on the Red Sox in the wild card standings as they swept a doubleheader from the Toronto Blue Jays and are now 3.5 games back. The Rays fall to six games behind the Red Sox as well.
Jon Lester started this one for the Red Sox and had a great night on the mound. He had all of his pitches working for and had good command and location. He allowed two runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out nine on 97 pitches in six innings of work. The nine strikeouts gives him 196 on the season and that is a new Red Sox record for left-handers. Bruce Hurst had 190 back in 1987.
Billy Wagner was perfect in his second outing and had two strikeouts. Okajima didn’t retire a batter and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk. Papelbon struck out three in two innings.
Andy Sonnanstine returned from Triple-A Durham and struggled. He allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits and four walks with two strikeouts in four innings of work.
Joe Maddon then employed seven relievers to finish off the game for the Rays.
Ellsbury and Youkilis both had two hits and two RBI to lead the Red Sox. Mike Lowell added two hits and an RBI while Victor Martinez added two hits. J.D. Drew hit a 2-run homer and Jason Bay added a solo home run, his 30th of the season.
Josh Beckett looks to get back on track tommorow night as he’ll square off with Red Sox killer Matt Garza.
