In a game that looked like the Red Sox were in total control, Boston could only manage one run despite an outstanding effort from Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-10) they would lose to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2-1 at Tropicana Field.
Once again runners left on base and more importantly runners left is scoring position killed several chances Boston had to expand their early lead and even break the game wide open. The Sox would leave 14 runners on base in total, 7 of them in scoring position.
Matsuzaka, who lost for the third time this season to the Rays, was really good tonight. In 6 innings he gave up 2 hits, walked 4 and struck out 8 while allowing only two runs. On most nights that’s good enough for a win but for Daisuke this year it’s almost as if he has to throw a shutout to win because of the lack of run support.
Rays starter Edwin Jackson (4-12) should consider himself a very lucky man. The Sox had their chances in all six innings he pitched but with the failure of the batters, especially Jason Varitek and Alex Cora, to come through he was able to wiggle out of jams all night long.
And wiggle he did until B.J. Upton took him off the hook with a sixth inning two-run homerun into the rightfield seats to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 advantage that the Rays bullpen would make stand up with some help from the Boston batting order.
The Red Sox drew first blood in the game in the third inning when Dustin Pedroia was hit on the left arm by a pitch from Jackson, Kevin Youkilis followed with a double over the leaping Jonny Gomes in rightfield to move Pedroia to third. David Ortiz walked for the second time on the night to load the bases with no outs for Mike Lowell who hit a sacrifice fly to Carl Crawford in leftfield to plate Pedroia for a 1-0 Boston lead. The Sox would be unable to add to it as J.D. Drew popped out to Brendan Harris at 2nd and Varitek grounded out to Joel Guzman at first with Jackson covering to end the inning.
Matsuzaka looked really good through the first three innings only allowing a 1 out third inning single to Josh Wilson while striking out 4 in facing one hitter over the minimum.
Jackson meanwhile struggled through his first four innings giving up a pair of hits, walking both Ortiz and Eric Hinske twice and hit Pedroia but he had only given up the one run because the Sox left 6 runners on base including 3 who were in scoring position.
The Rays finally got a couple runners on against Matsuzaka in the bottom of the fourth by getting a pair of walks but were unable to do anything with them as Matsuzaka got out of his mini-jam.
Boston tried to tack on a run in the fifth inning, with one out Ortiz sliced a double into leftfield, Lowell singled to center but Upton threw out Ortiz at the plate for the second out of the inning. Drew walked to put runners on first and second but Varitek would strike out. In the first five innings the Sox left 4 runners in scoring position and 8 in total on the bases.
Tampa Bay finally got to Matsuzaka in the 6th with one out Carlos Pena walked and Upton followed with his 18th HR of the season into the rightfield seats and it was 2-1 Rays. It was only the second hit Matsuzaka had given up. He would get Harris to pop out, then Gomes would reach on a two-base throwing error by Lowell before Guzman would become Matsuzaka’s 8th strike out victim to end the inning. He threw 111 pitches as he left the game after the inning.
The Sox made some noise in the 7th against reliever Dan Wheeler. With one out Ortiz got his second hit of the night a single through the shift into rightfield, Lowell looped out to Harris at second. Drew singled off the end of the bat to left and the Sox had runners at first and second but Varitek would strikeout for the second time and leave his 3rd runner in scoring position during the game.
The Rays tried to get to reliever Mike Timlin in the 7th. With one out Josh Paul singled, Akinori Iwamura after having whiffed three times against Matsuzaka got some wood on the ball and singled. Timlin then hit Crawford to load the bases with one out. Pena hit a hard ground ball to Youkilis who decided to come home for the force at the plate and the second out. With the bases still juiced, Timlin struck out Upton and bailed himself out with no runs scoring.
The Sox had a runner in the eighth when with two out Julio Lugo doubled into the rightfield seats but Cora would strikeout and end the threat.
In the ninth facing Ray closer Al Reyes, Youkilis popped out on the first pitch, Ortiz down 0-2 worked a walk. Lowell lined the ball into rightfield and what at first appeared to be a catch was actually a trap by Delmon Young that left Ortiz at first. Drew then singled up the middle to put runners on first and second with two out. Varitek would fly out to Crawford to end the game, leaving his 4th runner in scoring position tonight and Reyes would have his 19th save of the year.
Notes and Musings:
Red Sox-Devil Rays Boxscore 8/22
Pedroia came out of the game in the bottom of the third after he was hit on the left arm by a pitch in the top of the inning. X-rays were negative he has a bruised left elbow, Cora replaced him at second base.
Hinske left the game in the bottom of fourth. He apparently sustained an injury when he stole second in the top of the inning and was hit by the ball on an errant throw allowing him to go to third. Hinske left with a calf muscle strain, Bobby Kielty took his spot in leftfield.
Texas pitcher Kason Gabbard was the winning pitcher during the Rangers 30-3 rout at Baltimore in game one of a doubleheader. The 30 runs were the most scored in a game since 1900. Texas also had 29 hits. David Murphy also in the Eric Gagne` trade was 5 for 7.
With last night’s 8-6 the Red Sox have won consecutive games for the first time since August 13-14 also vs. Tampa Bay.
The 76-51 .598 is the best record in baseball, they are 25 games over .500.
The Red Sox have won 10 of the last 14 games against Tampa Bay. They are 9-3 this year.
J.D. Drew has gone 49 games and 162 at bats without a HR, both career highs. His last was on June 20th in Atlanta. He has 6 HR and 45 RBI for the year.
Coco Crisp’s infield hit in the second inning was his 14th of the year, third on team.
Jonathan Papelbon is the 4th pitcher to record 30+ saves in his first two seasons joining Billy Koch, Kaz Sasaki and Todd Worrell. He has converted 7 straight opportunities and 22 of his last 23.
The Red Sox have scored 2 or fewer runs in 12 of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s last 16 starts. He also lost to the Devil Rays at Fenway Park in his last start before tonight.
The Rays are 2-4 on this 10-game, 10-day homestand. They avoided being swept at home for the third time this season. The Rays are 22-19 in series finales this year.
Even with tonight’s win the Rays are 30-games below .500 and are 48-78. This is their third worse record after 125 games in franchise history.
81% of the Rays remaining games are against teams in playoff contention.
Carlos Pena’s first inning HR last night was his career high 28th. It places him fifth on the list of most HRs in a season by a Devil Ray player. Aubrey Huff and Jose Canseco hold the single season record with 34 HRs.
Edwin Jackson is 2-2 with an ERA just over 1.25 in his last five starts.
David Ortiz’ 2005 Mercedes SL65 AMG listed on Ebay at time of this posting has a highbid of $465,500 with 20 hours left in the bidding. Ortiz originally spent $ 235,000 on the car. Big Papi will personally deliver the keys and title to the winning bidder at Fenway Park.
It took Nick Cafardo, of the Boston Globe, 3 days to find orange juice at Tropicana Field. Apparently it’s only available in the luxury box bars. You must have to squeeze your own in the regular seats.
The Devil Rays season attendance at the Trop after Tuesday night is 1,057,817 and 1,850,064 people have seen the Rays on the road. While the Red Sox have drawn 2,309,702 to Fenway Park and 2,465,529 fans have seen Red Sox games on the road this season.
Raymond the Devil Rays mascot, mounted Jerry Remy’s bobble head on the hood of the remote control pick up truck he drives around.
