The Sox hoped to snap the skid they are in when they headed out on the road. The first team they were to face was the Tampa Bay Rays who have won their last 5 games. John Lackey was taking the mound for the Sox and Matt Moore was toeing the rubber for the Rays. Lackey got a lead early, but he wasn't able to hold onto it and the Sox fell in the first game to the Rays.
Before Lackey even had a chance to take the mound, the Sox gave him a 3 run lead. Ells got hit by pitch to get on base, Pedey hit a double and then Papi brought them all home when he smacked a 3 run HR. Sox 3-0. Lackey started off well and seemed to be rolling through the first couple of innings. In the 3rd, Lackey loaded the bases, but wiggled out of the jam. In the 4th he wouldn't be as lucky. Lackey ended up giving up 5 runs in the inning. Once runners got on base, Lackey just became much less efficient. The Rays scored their first run with an RBI double from Luke Scott. Then Molina hit an RBI single to tie the game 3-3. It looked like Lackey was gonna get out of the inning with the game tied when Joyce hit what looked like a infield pop up. However because of the quirks of the Trop, neither Pedey or Napoli could see the ball and it fell in fair. Two runs scored and the Sox went from winning to losing in the span of an inning. Sox 3-5.
After giving up the HR to Papi, Matt Moore setlled in well. The Sox weren't able to get anything going against him. Moore pitched 6 strong innings and then handed it over to the bullpen. Lackey wouldn't make it out of the 5th inning. Lackey wasn't able to get the job done, however the Sox bullpen was able to limit the damage to just those 5 runs. The relievers who pitched in the game were Miller, Mortensen, Breslow and Wilson. Unfortunately, the Sox bats were never able to get those 2 runs back once Moore was out of the game.
Red Sox 3 Rays 5 BOXSCORE
WP: Moore (7-0) LP: Lackey (1-4) SV: Rodney (7)
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
