Beckett Showing Signs of Better Things to Come?

The Red Sox’ 8-5 loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday wasn’t fun.

First, Josh Beckett seemed to be headed down the same miserable path he’s been on for his past four starts: Lots of home runs, very few flashes of dominance and not enough control to lead the Sox to victory.

“I thought early in the game, it was more of what we’ve seen in the last four starts,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona told NESN’s Heidi Watney. “Kind of throwing through the movement, and when he made a mistake, he paid for it. Then, to his credit, he reeled it in and started pitching.”

Although Beckett started off rocky, he settled down after a four-run second inning and lasted through the sixth, which hopefully suggests better things to come from the struggling ace.

“We clawed our way back in and [Beckett] gave us some scoreless innings, and that’s a good sign,” Francona said. “It didn’t help us win the game tonight, but I think it bodes well for his next few starts.”

Boston tied the game at five with runs in the seventh and eighth, but relievers Ramon Ramirez and Manny Delcarmen combined to cough up three runs in the eighth, allowing the Rays to cruise to victory and stay within reach in the wild-card race.

“There’s a lot of emotions tonight,” Francona said. “We fought so hard to get back in, got it tied, and before you can even look up, it’s not just one, it’s three [runs].”

You can watch Francona’s entire postgame interview here: