It may not have been the prettiest of outings from Tim Wakefield tonight, but his effort was good enough as the Boston Red Sox offense backed him up in a 10-6 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in front of 34,910 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL.
The win for the Red Sox ends a 4-game slide against the Rays as they improve to 15-9 and stay one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East. The Rays fall to 10-15.
Wakefield had been dominant in his last three starts for the Red Sox but tonight was a different story. He went 5 innings, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.
The Red Sox bullpen once again backed the team up though as Hideki Okajima, Ramon Ramirez and Takashi Saito combined to give up 4 hits, a walk (Okajima) and a run (Saito) with 5 strikeouts. Ramirez has now pitched 14 1/3 scoreless innings in a Sox uniform.
Rays starter Jeff Niemann got rocked by the Red Sox tonight. He gave up 6 runs (5 earned) on 7 hits and 3 walks with 3 strikeouts. Grant Balfour and Brian Shouse gave up the other runs for the 2008 American League champs.
Nick Green may have played himself into some more time at shortstop as he led the Red Sox with 3 hits and 3 RBIs. Kevin Youkilis added a hit and 3 RBIs while Jacoby Ellsbury added 2 hits and 3 stolen bases as did Mike Lowell who had 2 hits, including a home run and a RBI. Dustin Pedroia went 2-for-3 with 3 walks (one intentional) and a RBI. J.D. Drew’s one hit of the night was good for a double and 2 RBIs.
The Red Sox did lose Jason Bay to an ankle injury in the 6th inning but the report after the game is that he’s fine and could be in the lineup tomorrow.
Niemann started out by getting Ellsbury to ground out and then walked Pedroia. The struggles for David Ortiz continued as he popped out for the second out. Niemann hit Youk with a pitch and Drew followed with a double to deep right to clear the bases and give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
The Rays got a run back in the bottom half of the 1st on a 2-out double from Evan Longoria and a single from Carlos Peña.
Lowell led off the 2nd with a single and went to third on a George Kottaras double. Lowell and Kottaras both came into score on a Green single to make it 4-1. With Ellsbury at the plate, Green was thrown out trying to steal second as he tripped and fell. Ellsbury ended up reaching on an Akinori Iwamura error. With Pedroia at the plate, Ellsbury stole second and then came around to score on Pedroia’s single to push the lead to 5-1.
Niemann struck out Drew to start the 3rd inning and Bay followed with a single. With Lowell at the plate, Bay stole second before Lowell lined out to center. Bay went to third on a wild pitch from Niemann and after a Kottaras walk, he came around to score on another Green single making it 6-1.
Peña made it 6-2 in the bottom of the 4th when he led off with a home run to right field.
It was a rough inning for Wake in the 5th.
He started it out on positive note with a strikeout of former Red Sox outfielder Gabe Kapler but then he hit Dioner Navarro and walked B.J. Upton. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a passed ball by Kottaras. Wake got Crawford to pop out for the second out but Longoria followed with a 2-run single to make it 6-4. Peña then worked a walked and Pat Burrell hit a double to score Longoria cutting the lead to 6-5 as Peña stopped at third base. Wakefield got out of any further trouble with a strikeout of Ben Zobrist.
Grant Balfour started the 6th with a strikeout of Green. Ellsbury then singled and with Pedroia at the plate, he stole second and third base before Balfour ended up walking Pedroia. A walk to Big Papi ended the evening for Balfour as Shouse came in and gave up a 2-run double to Youk to push the Red Sox lead to 8-5.
Lowell led off the 7th with a solo home run to make it 9-5. After Shouse struck out Kottaras, Green doubled. Shouse got Ellsbury to ground out and then the Rays decided to intentionally walk Pedroia to face Big Papi. It ended up backfiring as Shouse hit him with a pitch to load up the bases. He then walked Youk to force in a run and make it 10-5.
The Rays added their final run of the night in the 9th on a Burrell single.
While Wake wasn’t at his best tonight, the offense showed up and gave him enough run support. The bullpen was once again outstanding, as it has been all season long and if it weren’t for them, the Red Sox wouldn’t have picked up their first regular season win at the Trop since last season.
The Red Sox will look to earn a split tomorrow afternoon at 1:38 PM when they send, gulp, Brad Penny to the mound. He’ll be opposed by James Shields.
