The Sox were coming off a beating off a loss on Thursday and needed Josh Beckett now more than ever. Beckett had missed his last start because of an ankle injury and all of Red Sox Nation was holding their breath hoping Becks would be A OK when he took the mound Friday night. Beckett wouldn’t have an easy go of it either since James Big Game, Complete Game Shields was on the mound for the Rays.
Beckett and his ankle were tested immediately. Jennings put down a bunt single down the first base line and there went Josh and his ankle to field it. Unfortunately, he threw the ball away and Jennings ended up on 2nd base. Evan Longoria then took Beckett deep and the Sox were trailing 0-2 in the first inning. Ugh. Not ideal. Luckily, the Sox bats got those runs right back in the bottom of the 1st. Ellsbury got a leadoff double and was knocked in by a Pedroia RBI single. Ortiz then hit an RBI single to score Pedroia. Game tied.
In the top of the 3rd, the Rays got another run on the board. Jennings got a single, stole second and made it to third on a wild throw from Tek. Longoria knocked Jennings in with an RBI single. Once again the Sox got that run right back in the bottom of the inning. Pedey got a leadoff single, stole second and then was knocked in by an Ortiz RBI double. In the 4th, the Sox took the lead on a solo HR from Mike Aviles. This was his first HR with the Red Sox and what timing. That ball was just smoked into Monster territory.
Photo Credit: Jim Rogash/Getty Images
Beckett wasn’t crazy dominant, but as the innings went on…he settled down well. The Rays and Joe Maddon in particular complained that Beckett was getting a very generous strike zone. Maddon ended up being ejected after the top of the 6th when he came to have a “civil discussion” with the umpires about the Beckett strike zone. See ya Joe! Beckett’s pitching line for the night was 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB and 7 Ks. Beckett was relieved by Alredo Aceves on the mound. Aceves pitched a scoreless inning. He walked two batters, but he also struck out two and ended the inning. In the bottom of the 7th, the Sox had a chance of adding an insurance run with Aviles on 3rd with one out. However, Pedey hit a ball right to Longoria and I’ll admit it, he made a sick sick play to get the unassisted double play.
In the 8th, Daniel Bard was on the mound with a teeny tiny one run lead. It’s not news that Bard has struggled lately, so everyone was holding their breath. At first, it looked like Bard hit Damon with a pitch and he did, however the ump said that Damon swung, so instead of first base, Damon was out. Bard walked Zobrist, but then struck out the next two batters. Great GREAT inning for Bard. Pap came out in the 9th and continued his pitching dominance. He got the 3 outs all by K. He is now at 22 scoreless innings pitched.
Great game. Great win. Let’s do it again tomorrow.
Red Sox 4 Rays 3 BOXSCORE
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