The Red Sox seem destined to be sellers at the deadline and the losing streak hitting 5 games last night did nothing to try to change the minds of anyone in the Red Sox organization. John Lackey was on the mound for the Sox and while he continued to pitch well, he got no run support on way to his 7th loss of the season.
The top of the 1st had potential to have the Sox get an early lead when it looked like Ortiz might have hit a solo HR, however a fan got their grubby hands on the ball and it was ruled a ground rule double instead of a homer. It would be the first of many wasted opportunities for the Sox. The Sox bad luck would continue in the bottom of the inning when Jennings would end up at 3rd base with no outs because of a throwing error from the usual sure Christian Vazquez. The Rays got on the scoreboard when Joyce hit an RBI single to score Jennings, but they weren’t able to get anything else from Lackey in the inning. Sox 0-1.
Lackey was able to keep the score 0-1 until the 4th inning when Kiermaier hit an RBI single to score Escobar to have the Rays up 2-0. The Rays starter Hellickson didn’t make it out of the 5th inning, but the Sox bats had just as much lack of success against the Rays bullpen. In the bottom of the 7th the Rays scored their 3rd and final run of the night when Ben Zobrist hit a solo HR off of Lackey. Sox 0-3. Koji Uehara came out and pitched a scoreless 8th inning because he needed the work. He hasn’t been on the mound in about a week since the Sox haven’t had a save situation for him. The Sox had nothing going against the Rays closer and lost their 5th game in a row.
Red Sox 0 Rays 3 BOXSCORE
WP: Balfour (1-3) LP: Lackey (11-7) SV: McGee (11)
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