The Red Sox would go out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the first, however the game would take a dramatic turn and the Sox wouldn't win until the bottom of the 14th inning. Lackey pitched good, but not great and then there was the blown save by Andrew Bailey to have Sox fans pulling their hair out. Uehara and Morales would both pitch some magical innings and allowed the Sox the chance to finally get the win.
Before Lackey even took the mound the Sox bats sported him a huge lead. This game seemed put away early on and had 6 runs scored before the Sox even recorded an out. The Sox scored 6 runs in the first off Cobb by a 2 RBI single from Pedey, RBI double from Nava, 2 RBI single from Carp and an RBI single from Middlebrooks fresh off the DL. Sox 6-0. What a way to start the game! Lackey would give two of those runs right back in the bottom of the 1st when he gave up solo HRs to Joyce and Longoria. Sox 6-2. After the 1st inning, Cobb settled down and the Sox wouldn't get anything else from him. In the 3rd Lackey gave up another run with a Scott RBI groundout. Sox 6-3. In the 4th the Rays would inch closer when they got another run, this time a Zobrist RBI single. Sox 6-4.
Lackey would pitch 5.2 innings and leave the game with the lead. In the bottom of the 5th he hit Joyce with a pitch and Joyce did not appreciate it. The benches cleared and there was some pushing and shoving. Lackey's pitching line for the night was 93 pitches, 5.2 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 1 BB and 2 Ks. Breslow came in and got the out to get out of the inning. Miller took the mound in the 7th and gave up a solo HR to Loney to have the Sox clinging to a 6-5 lead. Tazawa would come out in the 7th and get the final out of the inning. Tazawa pitched the 8th and by way of a wild pitch ended up giving up the game tying run. Ugh. Sox 6-6. Clayton Mortensen pitched a scoreless 9th to send us to extra innings.
In the top of the 10th the Red Sox seemed to be ready for this game to be over. With the Rays closer Fernando Rodney on the mound and two outs, Salty hit a 2 run RBI to have the Sox leading 8-6. Andrew Bailey was in the game in the bottom of the 10th to close it out. Unfortunately, Bailey would have himself a blown save stat. Bailey gave up a solo HR to Lobaton and then 2 walks and a single to have the bases loaded and no outs. Bailey walked in the tying run and the bases were still loaded with no outs. In some kind of magic the Rays did not score the go ahead run here. Bailey got Longo to hit into a double play of home and then got Fuld to groundout to 2nd. The Rays are gonna be wondering how they didn't get that run to score for a while. Uehara came out and pitched scoreless 11th and 12th innings and then Franklin Morales, who was supposed to start on Wednesday, came into the game.
Morales pitched a scoreless 13th inning and then the Sox bats finally got back on the board in the top of the 14th inning. Victorino hit a leadoff single, got to 2nd on a Pedey fly out, the Rays intentionally walked David Ortiz and then Nava made them pay for that with an RBI single that scored Victorino. Sox 9-8. The Sox would give Morales an insurance run when Salty came up big again. Salty hit an RBI single to score Iglesias, who was pinch running for Ortiz and the Sox would lead 10-8. Salty had himself a great game last night. Not only did he catch for 14 innings, but he also was the guy to give the Sox the go ahead runs twice. Morales pitched himself a scoreless 14th and the Sox would finally get the win.
It took a long, long time, but that water in Tampa ended up being dirty in the end.
Red Sox 10 Rays 8 F/14 BOXSCORE
WP: Morales (2-0) LP: Ramose (1-2)
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