Final, Red Sox 7-3: The Red Sox have won another game in dramatic fashion.
The Rays tied the score 3-3 with a pair of runs off Brandon Workman, but Mike Carp connected on a pinch-hit grand slam in the 10th inning to lead the Red Sox to a 7-3 victory.
The Red Sox carried a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning, but Evan Longoria doubled into the right-center field gap to cut Tampa’s deficit in half. James Loney then tied things up with a solo homer to right field.
John Farrell called upon Koji Uehara with the score tied 3-3 in the ninth. Per usual, Uehara tossed a perfect frame, running his scoreless streak to 29 1/3 innings. Uehara has now retired 34 straight batters, which is a Red Sox record. Uehara broke Ellis Kinder’s previous record of 32 consecutive batters retired in 1952.
Joel Peralta started the 10th inning for the Rays and walked Dustin Pedroia. Shane Victorino moved Pedroia up into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and Roberto Hernandez took over on the mound after an intentional walk to David Ortiz. Hernandez walked Mike Napoli on four pitches, leading to a bases-loaded showdown with Carp, who pinch hit for Jonny Gomes.
It wasn’t much of a showdown. Carp drilled Hernandez’s first pitch over the wall to give the Red Sox a 7-3 lead and send the dugout into a frenzy. There was a lot of beard-tugging going on after Carp’s grand slam.
Junichi Tazawa recorded the final three outs in the 10th inning, and the Red Sox have now won seven of their last eight games. Jake Peavy will take the ball Thursday as Boston looks to complete a sweep of Tampa Bay. The Red Sox’ magic number is down to eight.
Good night, everyone.
Mid 10th, Red Sox 7-3: These guys are something else.
Roberto Hernandez walked Mike Napoli on four pitches upon entering. John Farrell then turned to Mike Carp, who just keeps delivering whenever his number is called.
Carp pinch hit for Jonny Gomes and jacked the first pitch he saw over the center field fence for a grand slam.
Koji Uehara is now in line for a win if the Red Sox can hang on. Junichi Tazawa will look to record the final three outs.
11:01 p.m., 3-3: The Red Sox are threatening in the 10th inning.
Dustin Pedroia led off with a walk and Shane Victorino moved him up into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
The Rays intentionally walked David Ortiz with first base open and one out. Roberto Hernandez will now relieve Joel Peralta with Mike Napoli coming up.
It’s also worth noting that Victorino headed down to the clubhouse after returning to the dugout following his bunt. Victorino, who has been banged up, was walking rather gingerly.
End 9th, 3-3: Koji Uehara set a new Red Sox record and we’re heading to extra innings.
Uehara pitched another perfect inning in the ninth. In doing so, Uehara has now retired 34 straight batters, which is franchise record. Uehara broke Ellis Kinder’s record of 32 consecutive batters retired back in 1952.
Uehara struck out Kelly Johnson and Wil Myers in the ninth. Ben Zobrist made contact, but he rolled a grounder right to Dustin Pedroia at second base.
Uehara has not allowed a run in his last 29 1/3 innings. It’s the longest single-season scoreless streak for a Red Sox reliever since Dick Radatz’s 33-inning stretch in 1963.
Joel Peralta will pitch the 10th inning for the Rays.
Mid 9th, 3-3: The Rays can walk it off in the ninth.
Fernando Rodney entered with the score tied and took care of business.
Will Middlebrooks grounded out for the first out. Rodney then picked up back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
David Ross couldn’t hold up on a 3-2 changeup, and Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out looking on a fastball right down the middle.
John Farrell will turn to Koji Uehara in the ninth inning despite the score being tied.
End 8th, 3-3:Â Ballgame. Tied.
Brandon Workman left a pitch up in the zone to James Loney and it cost him big time. Loney ripped it into the right field seats to tie the game at three apiece.
Workman struck out Jose Lobaton after Loney’s blast, marking his fourth strikeout in two innings. Yunel Escobar grounded to short to end the inning.
The bridge to Koji Uehara continues to be an issue for Boston. Workman is starting to get placed into more high-leverage situations, but he surrendered two runs in his two innings of work in this one.
Closer Fernando Rodney will pitch the ninth inning for the Rays.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 3-2: Alex Torres shut down the Red Sox in order in the eighth inning.
Mike Napoli started the eighth with a line drive into the hole at short. Yunel Escobar ranged over to play it on the back hand.
Jonny Gomes pinch hit for Daniel Nava with one out in the eighth. It’s a role that Gomes has thrived in this season, but he flied out to center field this time around.
Stephen Drew, whose diving stop back in the third inning looks even bigger now, lined out to Wil Myers in right field to end the inning.
Brandon Workman will come back out to begin the bottom of the eighth.
End 7th, Red Sox 3-2: Brandon Workman looked poised for a quick inning, but a two-out walk opened the door for Tampa Bay.
Workman struck out Kelly Johnson to begin his night, and Wil Myers grounded the first pitch he saw to short for the second out.
Workman had a difficult time locating his pitches against Ben Zobrist. He walked Zobrist on four pitches, which proved costly with Evan Longoria coming up.
Longoria drilled a line drive into the gap in right-center field. Zobrist scored all the way from first base as Longoria cruised into second base with a two-out double.
Workman kept a lead intact by striking out Matt Joyce. The Rays have cut their deficit in half, though.
10:02 p.m., Red Sox 3-1: Franklin Morales was just about done warming up on the mound when Sean Rodriguez was announced as a pinch hitter for David DeJesus. John Farrell decided to make a pitching change, and it’ll be Brandon Workman starting the seventh inning for Boston.
Rodriguez has been called back, and Workman’s first opponent will be Kelly Johnson.
Rodriguez is now ineligible to play in this game, though, as he was officially announced as the pinch hitter before Joe Maddon called upon Johnson.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 3-1: Jamey Wright relieved Wesley Wright in the seventh. He faced two batters before Jake McGee finished the scoreless inning.
Dustin Pedroia singled into right field and Shane Victorino struck out swinging before Joe Maddon turned to McGee with David Ortiz coming up.
McGee got Ortiz to a hit a ground ball to second base, where Ben Zobrist started an inning-ending double play.
End 6th, Red Sox 3-1: Franklin Morales delivered a perfect sixth inning after five frames from Ryan Dempster.
James Loney, Jose Lobaton and Yunel Escobar couldn’t get anything going against Morales.
Dempster exited after five innings of one-run ball. The right-hander gave up four hits and walked five while teetering on the edge. He struck out Desmond Jennings with the bases loaded in the fifth to cap his outing.
Dempster, who struck out seven, threw 106 pitches (58 strikes).
Mid 6th, Red Sox 3-1: The Rays came oh-so-close to turning a triple play in the sixth inning.
Daniel Nava and Stephen Drew started the inning with back-to-back singles, bringing up Will Middlebrooks with runners at first and second. Middlebrooks nearly ended the threat with one swing of the bat.
Middlebrooks hit a high chopper down to third base. Evan Longoria leaped to grab it while ranging toward the line. He landed on the bag — resulting in the first out — and tossed a strong throw to second base for the second out. Middlebrooks then just barely beat out Ben Zobrist’s relay throw to first base.
It’s rare that you see a triple play. It’s even rarer that you see one in that fashion. Middlebrooks was literally an inch away from falling victim to the Rays going around the horn.
Alex Cobb walked David Ross with two outs, and that spelled the end of the right-hander’s night. Wesley Wright took over and got Jackie Bradley Jr. to ground out to end the inning.
Cobb gave up three runs on seven hits in his 5 2/3 innings of work. He threw 98 pitches (60 strikes) while striking out four and walking three.
Franklin Morales will pitch the sixth inning for Boston.
End 5th, Red Sox 3-1: The Red Sox stuck with Ryan Dempster in a jam and he rewarded them.
Dempster is through five innings — meaning he’s eligible for a win — but it wasn’t without a few tense moments in the fifth inning.
Dempster immediately landed in trouble, as David DeJesus walked and Wil Myers singled. The right-hander alleviated some of the pressure by inducing a 4-6-3 double play.
Control once again became an issue for Dempster following the double play. Evan Longoria and Matt Joyce each walked on five pitches to load the bases for Desmond Jennings. Jennings stranded all three runners, though.
Jennings, who was robbed by Stephen Drew with the bases juiced in the third inning, foul tipped a high fastball into David Ross’ mitt to end the fifth inning.
Dempster’s night is likely over. While it was a grind, he managed to get the job done.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 3-1: Alex Cobb got the quick inning that he needed.
Cobb enjoyed a perfect fifth. He took care of Shane Victorino, David Ortiz and Mike Napoli.
Victorino and Ortiz both grounded out to third base, and Napoli struck out.
Cobb had to battle back against Napoli. The slugger jumped ahead in the count, 3-0, before Cobb fought back to strike him out looking on a fastball.
End 4th, Red Sox 3-1: Ryan Dempster got exactly what he needed in the fourth inning.
Dempster tossed a 1-2-3 inning after being forced to work hard in the third. Dempster threw 12 pitches while retiring James Loney, Jose Lobaton and Yunel Escobar in order. The righty has thrown 77 pitches overall.
Dempster struck out Loney to begin the fourth. He then induced back-to-back groundouts.
Dempster has racked up six strikeouts in the first four innings.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 3-1: Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled with two down in the fourth. Nothing changed in the runs department, though.
Alex Cobb rebounded from a shaky third inning to record two quick outs in the fourth. Will Middlebrooks grounded to his third base counterpart, and David Ross struck out swinging.
Bradley extended the inning with a first-pitch double into the left-center field gap. He did a nice job of going the other way with a 92 mph fastball.
Dustin Pedroia grounded out to second base to end the inning.
End 3rd, Red Sox 3-1: Who’s Jose Iglesias again?
Stephen Drew just made a sensational diving play in the hole to help preserve a 3-1 lead.
Yunel Escobar and David DeJesus wasted no time chipping away at the lead that Boston built in the top half of the frame. They connected on back-to-back doubles to make it a 3-1 game.
Ryan Dempster started to settle things down by retiring Wil Myers and Ben Zobrist, but the right-hander quickly found himself in some more trouble by losing control a bit. Dempster plunked Evan Longoria on the forearm and walked Matt Joyce on five pitches to load the bases for Desmond Jennings.
It looked like Jennings was about to give the Rays at least one more run, as he hit a ground ball into the hole between shortstop and third base. But Drew completely laid out to make the stop, and he fired to second base from his knees to complete the inning-ending forceout.
It was a very impressive play by Drew, and it certainly fired up his teammates, especially Dempster.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 3-0: The Red Sox broke through against Alex Cobb in the third inning.
Dustin Pedroia hit a one-out single into right field after Jackie Bradley Jr. bounced down to first base to begin the inning. Shane Victorino sent Pedroia racing from first to third when he ripped a double down the third base line past an outstretched Evan Longoria.
Cobb started to face David Ortiz with Victorino on second and Pedroia on third. But after Ortiz laid off back-to-back pitches out of the zone, the Rays opted to intentionally walk Big Papi with first base open.
Mike Napoli, who was named an AL Co-Player of the Week alongside teammate Will Middlebrooks, put the Red Sox on the scoreboard with a two-run double to right field. Wil Myers appeared to lose Napoli’s fly ball, and he came up short on a lackluster diving attempt.
Daniel Nava grounded out to second base for the second out and Boston’s third run. Ben Zobrist gave a glance toward home, but he ultimately decided to take the sure out as Ortiz crossed the plate.
Stephen Drew almost added one more run in the third inning. He hit a liner to center field that Desmond Jennings slid to grab.
End 2nd, 0-0: Ryan Dempster faced some trouble, but a diving stop by Mike Napoli helped keep the game scoreless.
Evan Longoria drove Dempster’s first pitch of the second inning toward the left-center field gap. Daniel Nava laid out for it, but the ball smacked off the heel of his glove. Longoria coasted into second base with a double.
After striking out Matt Joyce, Dempster walked Desmond Jennings on four pitches.
James Loney then ripped a ground ball to the right side. Napoli got dirty while making the stop, and he flipped to Dempster at first base for the second out. Both Longoria and Jennings advanced, but Napoli’s play made sure that they only moved up a station each.
Dempster escaped the second-and-third jam by striking out Jose Lobaton, who had a hard time laying off some pitches down and out of the zone.
Dempster has four K’s through two innings.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: The Red Sox made some noise before an inning-ending double play silenced their threat.
Mike Napoli walked to lead things off, and Daniel Nava singled to put two on with no outs.
Alex Cobb struck out Stephen Drew on a pitch in the dirt for the first out of the inning, but a bang-bang play that ended favorably for the Red Sox loaded the bases.
Will Middlebrooks hit a grounder in front of the plate. Cobb grabbed it and immediately chucked it to third base in the hopes of throwing out the lead runner. Napoli and Evan Longoria arrived at the bag at the exact same time, though, and Napoli was ruled safe.
David Ross couldn’t cash in with the bags packed. He hit a ground ball to Longoria, who kicked off a huge 5-4-3 twin killing.
We’re still scoreless at The Trop.
End 1st, 0-0: Ryan Dempster struck out two while spinning a perfect inning.
Dempster started his night with back-to-back strikeouts. David DeJesus went down swinging on a slider and Wil Myers fanned on a splitter.
Ben Zobrist gave one a ride toward the left-center field gap with two outs, but Jackie Bradley Jr. showed off some range while tracking it down near the warning track.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Alex Cobb missed a big chunk of time this season after being struck in the head with a line drive. But when he’s been on the mound, he’s been very solid for the Rays.
Cobb started his night off with a 1-2-3 inning. He retired Dustin Pedroia, Shane Victorino and David Ortiz in order.
Pedroia started with a ground ball down to third base. Evan Longoria charged it and made a nice play before firing to first base, where James Loney scooped it while tumbling to the ground.
Cobb struck out Victorino for the second out. Victorino chased a 2-2 pitch in the dirt to finish the at-bat, and he thought he might have fouled it off. He didn’t.
Ortiz flied out to David DeJesus in left field to end the frame.
7:13 p.m.: Alex Cobb’s first pitch to Dustin Pedroia is a strike. Another night of baseball has begun.
6:56 p.m.: With a win, the Red Sox will secure their MLB-best 31st series win of the season. No other team has won more than 27.
6:53 p.m.: You may notice Wednesday that all MLB teams will be wearing an American flag patch on the side of their caps. They’ll be doing so to commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11., 2001.
6:49 p.m.: The Red Sox announced Wednesday that Fenway Park will soon feature a statue of Carl Yastrzemski.
The statue, will will stand outside of Gate B, will capture Yaz tipping his cap to the fans at Fenway before his final at-bat.
Pretty cool stuff.
For more on Yaz’s illustrious career, check out BostonFanFavorites.com.
6:44 p.m.: I’d like to point out that NESN.com is currently running a three-week tournament to determine “Boston’s Best Newcomer.”
As part of the tournament, fans are asked to vote for which Red Sox veteran that was added this year — either during the offseason or during the 2013 season — best embodies Boston baseball. It’s a bracket-style tournament, and there are four matchups going on right now.
Everyone is encouraged to vote, and you can do so at the Round 1 matchup links below.
Round 1
Koji Uehara (1) vs. Mike Carp (8) >>
Shane Victorino (2) vs. Ryan Dempster (7) >>
Mike Napoli (3) vs. Jake Peavy (6) >>
Jonny Gomes (4) vs. Stephen Drew (5) >>
6:36 p.m.: Jacoby Ellsbury turned the big 3-0 on Wednesday. A happy birthday is in order, even if he’d prefer to be spending it on the field.
6:24 p.m.: The Red Sox enter Wednesday’s game with a commanding 8 1/2-game lead over the Rays in the AL East. It seems like just yesterday the two teams were jockeying for position atop the division.
The Red Sox have won six of their last seven games and 15 of their last 20. They own an MLB-best 16-6 record (.727) since Aug. 17. They have the second-best mark in the AL since the All-Star break at 30-19 (.612).
Boston is 11-6 against Tampa Bay this season, marking the Red Sox’ most wins against the Rays in a season since 2007.
5:15 p.m.: David Ross will continue to get a decent chunk of playing time, as John Farrell said Wednesday that Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia will alternate games until Salty’s back is completely healed. Ross will be in the lineup against Alex Cobb and the Rays on Wednesday.
Jackie Bradley Jr. will also be in the starting lineup. He’ll bat out of the No. 9 spot — one spot behind Ross. Dustin Pedroia, meanwhile, will lead off for the second straight game.
Wednesday’s complete lineups are below.
Red Sox (88-58)
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Shane Victorino, RF
David Ortiz, DH
Mike Napoli, 1B
Daniel Nava, LF
Stephen Drew, SS
Will Middlebrooks, 3B
David Ross, C
Jackie Bradley Jr., CF
Ryan Dempster, RHP (8-9, 4.79 ERA)
Rays (78-65)
David DeJesus, LF
Wil Myers, RF
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Evan Longoria, 3B
Matt Joyce, DH
Desmond Jennings, CF
James Loney, 1B
Jose Lobaton, C
Yunel Escobar, SS
Alex Cobb, RHP (8-3, 2.99 ERA)
8 a.m. ET: Clay Buchholz looked like the same Clay Buchholz in his return to the Red Sox on Tuesday.
Buchhoz held the Rays scoreless over five innings in his first taste of major league action since June 8. He looked like the ace that he was prior to landing on the disabled list, and he may have been able to continue shutting down Tampa Bay if he wasn’t working on a pitch count.
Buchholz’s return meant that someone needed to be bounced from the rotation. Felix Doubront looks like the guy, as John Farrell said Sunday that Doubront would be skipped during the next time through the rotation. It wasn’t before some debate, though, and Ryan Dempster was another candidate to shift to the bullpen following Buchholz’s return.
Dempster remains in the rotation for now, but he obviously has some added pressure to succeed with the Red Sox having six starters vying for five spots. He’ll take the ball Wednesday and go up against Alex Cobb as the Red Sox look to make it two straight over the Rays.
Wednesday’s first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Tune in on NESN, and keep it right here with NESN.com.
