Final, Rays 8-5: This one’s in the books.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia strung together a seven-pitch at-bat but ended up striking out on a fastball from Peralta, who stayed in to close this one out.
Marco Scutaro and Mike Aviles sandwiched a Jacboy Ellsbury double with fly outs to Matt Joyce in right. The sun made each a difficult play, but Joyce was able to seal the deal.
The Sox’ wild card lead is now down to two games, which makes the end of the season quite interesting. The Sox are still in the driver’s seat, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to find positives from their recent stretch of games.
Mid 9th, Rays 8-5: Matt Albers came back out for the ninth and got Evan Longoria to ground out to second base. Trever Miller then came in and got Casey Kotchman to fly out to center and Johnny Damon to fly out to Crawford in left.
The Sox will send Saltalamacchia, Scutaro and Ellsbury to the plate in the home half of the ninth. They’ll need three runs to keep this thing going or else they’ll be looking at only a two game lead when it comes to the wild card.
End 8th, Rays 8-5: Dustin Pedroia put on a nice battle to begin the frame, but he ended up going down by way of the K. David Ortiz then put a charge into one in the hopes of cutting the deficit to two runs, but Matt Joyce hauled it in at the warning track for the second out.
A chess match then ensued at Fenway, as the Rays turned to left-hander J.P. Howell after the Sox brought up Carl Crawford for Conor Jackson. Crawford doubled into the gap in left-center, but the Rays proceeded to bring on Joel Peralta, who got Darnell McDonald to pop out to second base.
Mid 8th, Rays 8-5: Another fine quality start out of Mr. Lee. I’ll do my best to close this one out.
Former Sox farmhand Kelly Shoppach gave one a ride to begin the top of the eighth, but the wind ensured it didn’t amount to much. Jacoby Ellsbury drifted over and played it on the warning track in front of the Monster for out No. 1.
Desmond Jennings then grounded out to Scutaro at short for the second out before a throwing error from Mike Aviles allowed B.J. Upton to reach. Jarrod Saltalamacchia took matters into his own hands, though, and gunned Upton down trying to steal second.
End 7th, Rays 8-5: Mike Aviles atones for his throwing error in a big way, crushing his second home run of the series, this time a three-run shot that gives the Sox some life.
Andrew Miller remains in the game.
I’m passing you on to the dominant Ricky Doyle. He’ll carry you through the final two innings while I go kill the ratings downstairs.
Mid 7th, Rays 8-2: The Rays have seven hits, not the kind of production that should lead to a rout. But there has been no shortage of help from sloppy Red Sox play throughout this game.
Andrew Miller walked two, threw two wild pitches, saw two players steal bases and gave up a two-run single.
Boston pitchers have thrown three wild pitches. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has three passed balls. Four Rays have reached on walks, another when he was hit by a pitch. Four more have recorded a stolen base. None have been caught.
Oh, and there was one throwing error on a routine grounder that should’ve been the third out of an inning.
Tampa Bay is just a far superior team right now. The worst development for the Rays is that they will no longer get to play the Red Sox anymore. They’ll have to make up the remaining two games against teams that have played them tougher.
End 6th, Rays 6-2: You can hear a pin drop here.
Seriously, some guy just dropped a pin in section 14 and everyone in the bleachers jumped.
Three easy outs for Jake McGee gets the Rays nine outs away from moving a bit closer. Andrew Miller is your new pitcher and will try to keep Tampa Bay at…well…at bay.
Mid 6th, Rays 6-2: Atchy, Atch Atch.
Scott Atchison strands a runner at third base to get through the sixth, although he needed a great diving stop by Marco Scutaro to survive.
The Yankees are losing 3-0 in Toronto, in case you care about that. Perhaps the Sox can stay within 4 1/2 of them. Not much of a silver lining, but I’m trying.
End 5th, Rays 6-2: Tampa Bay’s half of the fifth lasted roughly three days longer than Boston’s half.
The top third goes very, very quietly for the Sox against Jake McGee, and we turn things over to Scott Atchison.
I can’t be positive, but it looks like many people are leaving. Otherwise, everyone’s bladder reached capacity at the exact same time.
Mid 5th, Rays 6-2: The battery is not strong today. Tim Wakefield and Jarrod Saltalamacchia have combined to let five balls reach the backstop (three wild pitches, two passed balls), most of which came on one Desmond Jennings trip around the bases.
Jennings, an absolute thorn in the Red Sox’ side right now, singled to center to begin the fifth. He stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a passed ball.
Jennings also scored on a wild pitch yesterday, so the sight of him flying past a pitcher covering home plate is becoming all-too-familiar for Boston.
As ugly as that was, it wasn’t the worst development of the inning for the Red Sox. Wakefield had two on and two outs against Ben Zobrist, who grounded an easy one to Mike Aviles.
We gave Aviles plenty of props earlier on, but he is playing a tertiary position (that means his third position for those of you who missed that vocab lesson). He showed it by throwing the ball into the seats, allowing one run to score and runners to settle in at second and third.
Wakefield got a strikeout to finally end a horrendous inning.
David Price is done. Jake McGee, another lefty, will come on. With McGee and Matt Moore, the Rays are loaded with quality southpaws out of the pen, something that can kill the Sox. Good thing for Boston that this is the last time these two teams meet. It’s a complete mismatch right now.
Price was removed for precautionary reasons with a bruise on his upper right chest.
End 4th, Rays 4-2: So much of the pregame talk (including in this blog) focused on the installation of Conor Jackson in left, which went hand-in-hand with the usage of Darnell McDonald in right.
They are on this team to get sporadic starts against lefties, and both are putting together some good at-bats.
McDonald, who walked in the second, just drove a double to right that scored two runs (Dustin Pedroia singled and David Ortiz walked). That gives McDonald a .350 (7-for-20) mark with four extra-base hits against David Price.
Jackson popped to second on the prior at-bat, but he also drew a walk in the second and missed an extra-base hit in the fourth by a few feet on a drive down the left-field line.
Price was really forced to work one inning after taking the line drive off his chest. If he is short today, the Rays don’t have young lefty Matt Moore available.
Mid 4th, Rays 4-0: You just knew that there would be a play involving Conor Jackson in the field that caused people to talk.
Jackson went back to the Green Monster on a one-out fly by Matt Joyce, leaped but could not come up with it. It’s never as easy as people think out there as there are rusty edges and all kinds of stuff you want to avoid, but that play has been made before.
Joyce moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a sac fly.
We will have to keep an eye on David Price this inning just to see if he is bothered by any pain where he was hit with that line drive. Sitting down for an inning can cause it to tighten up. He let his right arm (non-throwing arm) dangle a bit as he went to the mound.
End 3rd, Rays 3-0: Scary moment here at Fenway as a Mike Aviles line drive catches David Price square on the his chest/right shoulder area. There is a long delay before Price deems that he is good to go.
If you missed it, and you like being scared, find the footage or catch the highlights. He was a few inches from getting one on the face. Glad he’s OK.
Oh, and the Rays got the out on the play when it ricocheted to shortstop, part of a 1-2-3 frame for Price.
Sorry for no update last half inning. Some technical issues. Tim Wakefield had a very easy inning and in the process became the first pitcher to throw 3,000 innings in a Red Sox uniform.
End 2nd, Rays 3-0: David Price lost the zone against the two guys inserted in the lineup to do some damage against him, Conor Jackson and Darnell McDonald.
He walked both, but got Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a lazy fly to center and Marco Scutaro popped up to finish the inning.
Scutaro was the picture of calm after yesterday’s game, cracking some jokes about how he just moves on from bad losses. Sleeping pills were the key for him, he joked. But Scutaro just slammed his bat to the ground on the final out. We may see a few more of those acts if the Sox are unable to get to Price.
Did we tell you Kyle Weiland and John Lackey are starting tomorrow? It’s not out of the realm of possibility that these two teams are tied in the loss column heading into Tuesday.
Mid 2nd, Rays 3-0: There were some sure hits in the second, but it was also one of those innings where a good knuckleball can sometimes kill you. The kind of inning that the Red Sox always fear when Tim Wakefield is on the mound.
Wakefield struck out the first man of the inning, Casey Kotchman, but the third strike broke down and in and got past Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Kotchman reaches on the wild pitch and then moves to second on a passed ball, the major league-leading 22nd for Salty (most of those while catching Wake, of course).
That sets up the first run, which came in when Johnny Damon doubled into the gap. One out later, Damon scored on a Matt Joyce single. (Those weren’t great knucklers, I’m just setting the scene as to how the whole thing started).
There was also a stolen base (Joyce) and a hit batter (Sean Rodriguez), making that a very Wake-y inning. He is now in seventh place on the all-time hit batters list.
After a strikeout of Kelly Shoppach, Wakefield gave up an RBI single to Desmond Jennings. Three hits, one hit batter, one stolen base, one wild pitch, one passed ball, two strikeouts. And a partridge in a pear tree.
Ugly.
End 1st, 0-0: You wonder what must be going through Carl Crawford’s mind. He looks out at a huge game between his former team and his current team and he sees Conor Jackson, who has one hit in his last 28 at-bats, starting in his place while Desmond Jennings makes all the plays at his old position with the Rays.
After Mike Aviles doubled with one out, Adrian Gonzalez sent one toward the line in left that Jennings tracked down for a nice catch right on the line. It’s an especially solid play given the scarcity of innings Jennings has seen at this park. Fenway Park is an awkward place to play left field even if there is less room to cover.
Dustin Pedroia then struck out. The double didn’t hurt David Price.
Mid 1st, 0-0: No first-inning inssues today for the Red Sox as Tim Wakefield blows through the top third of the Rays order.
We assume that Wakefield was not distracted by that long pursuit of win No. 200. He’s 45, he’s been through wars, understands the ups and downs. But heck, you never know. Maybe now that that is thrust aside, he spins one of those Wakefield gems that we see once in awhile. Maybe.
1:38 p.m.: Tim Wakefield’s first pitch to Desmond Jennings is a knuckleball. Surprise!
12:40 p.m.: Tim Wakefield got a lot of love here earlier on the homestand, and for good reason. He deserves all the accolades that came with No. 200.
But with David Price looming on the other end, the Red Sox better get a cleaner start.
Wakefield has a 7.52 ERA in his last four starts. Something like that today could really hurt. Here are the guys hoping to inflict that kind of pain:
Desmond Jennings, LF
B.J. Upton, CF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Casey Kotchman, 1B
Johnny Damon, DH
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Matt Joyce, RF
Sean Rodriguez, SS
Kelly Shoppach, C
The 3-4-5 hitters are a combined 34-for-106 (.321) with six home runs against Wakefield. Swallow hard, folks. Swallow hard.
11:54 a.m.: OK, here’s the skinny on your boys.
Kyle Weiland will start the opener of the doubleheader against Baltimore on Monday, followed by John Lackey in the nightcap.
Erik Bedard will make his return Tuesday night against his former team and Josh Beckett will go Wednesday.
Thursday is a day off. Jon Lester will obviously start the opener in New York on Friday. Beyond that, who the heck knows? Certainly not Terry Francona.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” he said when asked if he would stay in order going forward. “There was some thought to pitching Bedard the first game tomorrow, but we really wanted to talk to him a little bit more to see if another day after throwing that side will be to his benefit, which he thought it was, so that’s kinda why we were waiting.”
Bedard probably won’t be throwing 100 pitches, so his pitch count will be critical early on. Beckett won’t be able to go in the Yankees series, which hurts. As for Weiland, he threw only 61 pitches the other night so he will have every chance to work as deep as he can into the DH opener.
Also, Clay Buchholz will throw a simulated game Tuesday and will have another bullpen session Thursday.
In other news, there is nothing wrong with Carl Crawford, but putting two and two together I can tell you he isn’t pleased with sitting today. Crawford probably found out last night he was going to sit in the biggest game of the year (Francona usually tells guys the night before if there is going to be a change), and Crawford walked out of the clubhouse without speaking to reporters, even keeping his back turned to one who went after him.
For Francona, he said he wanted to make sure he had Crawford for both games of Monday’s doubleheader, and with Price on the mound today, it made sense to give him a rest. But the Orioles are throwing one lefty now after a little shuffle. Still, Francona stuck to his guns and rests his left fielder in a critical game.
Back with more in a bit. Look for stories on the site on some of these items, as well as Francona’s reaction to reports that Adrian Gonzalez is bothered by shoulder pain.
10:20 a.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where we are getting set for the final Rays game of the season, and easily the most important.
For the finale, Terry Francona has mixed things up a bit. Mike Aviles will be starting a game in the second spot for the first time since Aug. 20, and Conor Jackson gets his first start since he banged his knee in a collision with the right field wall on Sept. 4.
Have a look:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Mike Aviles, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Conor Jackson, LF
Darnell McDonald, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Marco Scutaro, SS
A few reasons as to why things are configured this way. Carl Crawford is 0-for-9 with two Ks against Rays starter David Price, while Jackson is 2-for-3, so it’s a good time to let C.C. take a seat.
McDonald is an obvious choice, having gone 6-for-19 (.316) with two home runs off Price.
And for those of you wondering why Scutaro is batting ninth, he is just 3-for-22 (.136) with five strikeouts vs. Price.
Heading down to get the vibe in the clubhouse and to hear from Terry Francona on the state of things. Back in a bit.
8 a.m. ET: Tim Wakefield brought Fenway Park to life his last time out, doing just enough to secure his 200th career victory.
There haven’t been too many smiles at the park since, and Wakefield will be needed in a big way Sunday afternoon when he starts against the Tampa Bay Rays in the finale of a four-game set.
The Rays have won two of the first three games in the series and are within three games of Boston’s wild card lead. Sunday marks the last time the two teams meet in the regular season.
Wakefield did pick up the milestone last week, but he owns a 7.52 ERA in his last four starts. However, he has always performed well against Tampa Bay, including a start in Tropicana Field on June 14 in which he allowed one earned run in seven innings.
In an effort to make things tighter, the Rays will turn to All-Star lefty David Price. He owns a 1.60 ERA over his last seven starts and is 6-3 in his career against the Red Sox. Price threw eight scoreless at Fenway last month.
First pitch is 1:35 p.m.
