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Bullpen Implodes As Rays Sweep Sox, 7-6
By Administrator | July 3, 2008
Even a 4-1 lead in the seventh inning wasn’t good enough this week in The Sunshine State.
Last night in Tampa, FL, the Red Sox bullpen bookended a futile week in the south with its second brutal performance in the last five days. After a horrific game in Houston to start the current five-game losing streak, the ‘pen yielded six runs in the seventh inning to the surging Rays. The implosion turned a near-certain victory into a cruching defeat as the Sox head to the Bronx for a four-game series against the hated Yankees.
Daisuke Matsuzaka started the game for the Red Sox and continued his recent string of ineffectual outings. Although he allowed only one run on two hits over five innings, he battled wildness (walking five batters) and was gone after five innings — having already thrown more than one hundred pitches. In three starts since coming off the DL, Dice-K has pitched a TOTAL of eleven innings (one, five and five innings respectively).
As a result, manager Terry Francona had to rely on his bullpen early and often last night — a theme that has become commonplace in Sox games. And as with the game in Houston on Saturday, Tito’s relief corps was not up to the challenge. Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen faced three batters apiece and failed to get a single out… by the time David Aardsma was called in to stop the bleeding, the Rays already had taken the lead. Hansen was especially brutal… with two on and a run already in, he walked the first two batters (to force in a run) and surrendered a two-run double to Evan Longoria. Of the thirteen pitches he threw, only four were for strikes.
Longoria led the Rays offensive assault — he went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs (he has eighteen rbi in his last fifteen games). Carl Crawford also had three hits and drew a walk.
The meltdown spoiled a big night by Dustin Pedroia, who had his fourth four-hit game of the season. He became the first Sox second baseman to have four extra-base hits in one game, and fell a single shy of the cycle. Pedroia is a torrid 25-for-44 during his current ten-game hitting streak,
Dustin Pedroia and Manny Ramirez celebrated the second baseman’s first inning home run… AP photo
After the game, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said: “It’s a really good feeling. I can’t tell you that I expected it — I’d be lying. But right now, we expect to win on a nightly basis”. Thw in improved the Rays record to an MLB-best 52-32… it extended their lead in the division to 3 1/2 games over the second-place Red Sox.
The Red Sox jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Rays ace Scott Kazmir in the top of the first inning on Pedroia’s ninth home run of the season. Tampa tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a pair of walks and a single… but it could have been worse. Matsuzaka walked a third batter to load the bases with two outs but escaped further damage when he reired catcher Dioner Navarro on a fly out to right field.
The Red Sox wasted an opportunity to add to the lead in the second inning when Julio Lugo grounded out to end the inning with runners on second and third bases… but they added a run in the third inning on Pedroia’s triple and a ground out by Manny Ramirez. They extended the lead to three runs in the fifth inning on a Pedroia double, an rbi-triple by J D Drew, and a wild pitch by Kazmir.
At that point, the game seemed well in hand. Matsuzaka had settled down after his twenty-four pitch first inning, and although he had thrown a lot of pitches he allowed only one hit and two walks in the next four innings. Hideki Okajima came on to pitch a scoreless sixth inning.
Boston again squandered a scoring opportunity in the sixth inning. Drew led off with a single, took second base on a wild pitch by Rays reliever Gary Glover, and advanced to third base on a long fly ball to right field by Ramirez. But Mike Lowell fouled out to first base and, after an intentional walk to Kevin Youkils, Glover struck out Jason Varitek to end the inning.
Then came the disastrous bottom of the seventh.
The Red Sox offense managed to make it interesting, though. They scored a run in the eighth inning on Pedroia’s rbi-double (his fourth xbh of the game) and then, in the ninth, pulled to within 7-6 on Kevin Youkilis’ sacrifice fly — which CF B. J. Upton ran down on the warning track with his back to the plate (”Willie Mays-esque” according to Maddon).
The rally ended when Francona incomprehensibly had the slumping Jason Varitek attempt a hit-and-run with slow-footed Mike Lowell at first base — not once, but twice. Tito got away with the gamble the first time when Varitek lined a foul ball down the right nfield line… but when he tempted fate a second time, the Sox captain swung and missed. Lowell was a dead duck. ‘Tek struck out to end the game on the next pitch.
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Pedroia has homered eight times in his last thirty-nine games… he hit just one in his first forty-five games.
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Coco Crisp served the final day of a five-game suspension… he’s eligible to return to the lineup against the Yankees tonight.
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Reliever Mike Timlin (left knee tendinitis) will be activated from the 15-day DL today… Chris Smith will be optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.
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The Rays are the first team since the 2001 Yankees to sweep series from the Sox twice in the same season… AP photo
Topics: Sox Games, Sox Players |
