The Red Sox lost again and now only lead the wild card race by a wee 2 games. The Sox need to start playing better ball in the last 11 games of the season or they seriously might end up watching the post season from the sidelines. Last night, Wakefield was on the mound against David Price, the dominant lefty from Tampa.
Wake had a quick first inning, but struggled in the second inning. Wake struck out Kotchman but was able to reach on a passed ball from Saltalamacchia. Salty had some troubles with Wake’s knuckleball. It was a windy day at Fenway and in the post game interviews both Tito and Salty said that Wake’s knuckleball was going everywhere. Wake gave up an RBI double to Johnny Damon to score Tampa’s first run. Wake also gave up an RBI single to Joyce to score Damon and then followed with an RBI single to Jennings. Rays lead 3-0.
In the bottom of the 3rd, the Rays got a scare when Aviles was at bat and he hit a ball right back to Price and it hit right off his chest. The trainers came out and checked Price out and he stayed in the game. It was sure scary to watch. Wake gave up another run in the 4th inning and the Rays were leading 4-0.
In the 5th the Sox finally got on the board. Darnell McDonald hit a wall ball double to score both Pedey and Papi. Sox 2-4. In the bottom of the 5th, the Rays got those 2 runs right back. Jennings scored from 3rd on a passed ball by Salty and then later in the inning Ben Zobrist scored on a throwing error from Mike Aviles. Sox 2-6. Wake pitched 5 innings and at 100+ pitches he was out of the game. His pitching line for the night was 5 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 1 BB and 5 Ks. Wake pitched well enough, but didn’t have great defense behind him and the Rays took advantage of it every single time.
Scott Atchison pitched a scoreless 6th inning and then Andrew Miller took the mound for the 7th. Miller walked two batters and then allowed them to score on an RBI single from Matt Joyce. Sox 2-8. The Sox did get those runs back in the bottom of the 6th when Mike Aviles hit a 3 run HR right over the Monster. Sox 5-8. In the 9th with Carl Crawford standing on 2nd base, David Ortiz hit a ball that sounded like a for sure homerun off the bat, however it was a few feet shy and was caught at the warning track. There was no comeback walk off rally for the Sox.
Now the Sox play a doubleheader against the O’s on Monday and we have to hope that the Rays and Yankees spend some time beating each other up.
Red Sox 5 Rays 8 BOXSCORE
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
