Dice-K took the mound for the Red Sox and ended up not making it out of the 4th inning. It was night of poor pitching following poor pitching. The Rays not only beat the Sox last night, but they battered them around while doing it.
The Sox bats gave Dice-K a run before he even took the mound last night. The Sox scored a run in the top of the 1st when Ciriaco hit a single, stole 2nd and then Ellsbury hit an RBI single to bring Pedro home. Sox 1-0. The Rays tied the game in the bottom of the 2nd when Dice-K loaded the bases with no outs. Dice-K walked in a run, but then got out of the inning without any more damage with a K and a double play. Sox 1-1. In the 3rd, the Sox scored two more runs with an Ellsbury RBI single and an RBI groundout from Pedroia. Sox 3-1. The Rays got one of those runs back in the 3rd when Zobrist hit an RBI single and then tied the game in the 4th with a solo HR by Keppinger. That would have been bad enough, but Dice-K then gave up a single and a HR to Pena to give the Rays a 5-3 lead.
Bobby V had seen enough and went to get Dice-K. Alfredo Aceves, who hasn’t pitched in about a week, came into the game in the 4th. Aceves pitched a scoreless 4th and 5th innings, but then found himself in a boatload of trouble in the 6th inning. Aceves gave up a 2 run RBI triple to Jennings and then Jennings came home on an error by Ciriaco. Sox 8-3. Aceves gave up a double to Upton and Bobby V went out to get him. Daniel Bard came into the game and it didn’t get any better. Bard issued two walks to load the bases. Bard gave up a run on a Luke Scott sac fly and then another run on a RBI single to Keppinger. Sox 10-3. Bard issued another walk to load the bases again. Bard was out and Miller was in. Unfortunately, Miller went back to his old habit of walking everyone he faced. Miller walked in two runs to put the Sox in a 12-3 hole. Scott Atchison came into the game and with one pitch got the two outs that Aceves, Bard and Miller could not get. Atchy ended the inning by getting Jennings to ground into a double play. Atchison also pitched a scoreless 7th inning. It’s nice to have him back in the bullpen. Chris Carpenter took the mound in the 8th and gave up their 13th and final run. Carpenter gave up an RBI single to Joyce.
The Sox once again showed that with poor pitching they don’t have much of a chance. There were problems with the starting pitching and then it just got worse when the bullpen came into the game.
Red Sox 3 Rays 13 BOXSCORE
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