Clay Buchholz pitched himself 7 strong innings, however the Rays would rally in the 9th and walk away with a way to split the series with the Sox. Andrew Bailey showed the first real sign of struggle since he has been back from injury and ended up allowing 5 runs to score in the 9th. It was another gut punch of a loss in a long line for the Sox.
Buchholz took the mound and pitched himself a real nice outing. Buchholz even survived the decision to start Pedro Ciriaco in center field. Ciriaco botched a play that ended up being a double for Longoria. Buch got around it without any damage done. In the 3rd there was another play that would have easily been an easy out if it was Ellsbury out there in CF, but ended up being a double. Once again Buch got out of the inning without any damage being done. Let’s just say that the experiment of Ciriaco at CF did not work out. In the bottom of the 4th, Jacoby Ellsbury was back out there in CF where he should be.
In the top of the 6th, the Sox jumped out to the first lead in the game. Iglesias singled and then Ross hit an RBI double to score Iggy. Sox 1-0. Lavarnway hit an RBI single and the Sox were leading 2-0. In the 8th inning the Sox got a 3rd run when Gomez hit a stand up triple to score Lavarnway. Buchholz was done after 7 innings and it was reported later that he had a stiff back. The idea of Buch having any back issues makes me have panic attacks since we need him to be strong and healthy to lead the rotation going forward and back issues have been such a concern for him. Tazawa came out in the 8th and ended up giving the Rays their first run of the night. Tazawa gave up an RBI sac fly to Zobrist. Sox 3-1. The Sox would get that run right back in the top of the 9th when Jose Iglesias hit a solo HR. That was Iggy’s first homerun of the season and he knew it was out right off the bat. The Sox happily gave him the silent treatment in the dugout.
Andrew Bailey took the mound in the 9th and that is when everything went all wrong. Bailey gave up an RBI single to Pena with one out to bring the Rays within 2. Bailey then issued a walk and an RBI single to Jennings which tied the game. There was a runner on 3rd and it seemed like the Rays were on the verge of walking off. Bailey was done for the night and Padilla was into the game. Padilla got the walk off done in dramatic fashion when he gave up a 3 run HR to BJ Upton.
The Sox lost a game that was well pitched by Clay Buchholz with their closer on the mound with a 3 run lead. That shouldn’t happen, but it did.
Red Sox 4 Rays 7 BOXSCORE
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