The Red Sox would send Jon Lester to the mound and hope to take another win from the Rays in this series. Unfortunately, Lester continued his slump and would struggle out of the gate and never be able to get it together. Lester had a hard time finding the strike zone and gave up the long ball way too often.
The Sox grabbed a run early on, but wouldn't be able to hold on to the lead. The Sox lead 1-0 in the first with a sac fly from Dustin Pedroia. Unfortunately, Lester gave that lead right back in the bottom of the inning. Lester walked 4 batters in the first including walking in the Rays first run. Sox 1-1. The Rays took the lead in the 2nd when Jennings homered to centerfield. Sox 1-2. The Sox battled back and took the lead again in the 3rd inning. The Rays intentionally walked David Ortiz and Napoli made them pay by hitting a 2 run RBI single. Sox 3-2.
Lester wouldn't be able to hold onto this lead either. In the bottom of the 3rd Lester gave up RBI singles to both Roberts and Molina. Sox 3-4. In the 4th Lester gave up a solo HR to Longoria. Sox 3-5. In the 5th Lester gave up a 2 run HR to Joyce and he was done for the night. Lester's line for the night was 98 pitches, 4.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 BB and 3 Ks. Not good is an understatement. Jose De La Torre was in the game and with the first batter he faced he followed Lester's lead and gave up a solo HR to Jennings. Sox 3-8.
That would be the only run that De La Torre gave up though and he did his job of finishing off the game and making sure no one else from the bullpen had to get up and warming. Jose will end up getting up getting sent down to make room for Aceves who will be starting on Wednesday, so at least he got some work in and was able to help the club in some way. De La Torre's line for the night was 52 pitches, 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB and 3 Ks. While De La Torre was settling in and not letting the Rays rack up any more runs, the Sox bats were still not able to get anything else done against Hernandez. Hernandez did end up hitting a Sox player in the game and of course it was Dustin Pedroia. It was in the 8th inning when they had the game easily in hand. Joe Maddon talked a lot about the honor of the game when criticizing Lackey the day before, but doesn't seem to mind when his players do the hitting. No matther though because the Sox couldn't take advantage and would lose 3-8 and be tied in the series with the Rays.
Bring on the rubber game tomorrow and *gulp* Aceves.
Red Sox 3 Rays 8 BOXSCORE
WP: Hernandez (4-6) LP: Lester (6-3)
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