Burrell turned around a slow start in less than an hour.
Burrell homered to help Tampa Bay win
the completion of a suspended game, then had a three-run double in the
first inning of Saturday's scheduled game to lead the Rays to a 6-5
victory over the Boston Red Sox.
In the completion of the game
suspended because of rain in the ninth inning Friday night, Burrell
homered with two outs in the 12th to lift the Rays to a 3-1 victory.
"I figured at some point I was going
to be able to drive in a run," Burrell said after the scheduled game
Saturday. "I was trying to go get back to some of the things I have done
in the past. I'm supposed to be a run producer. It's nice to get up and
live up to the challenge."
Burrell was hitting just .185 with no
homers or RBIs entering the day.
"It's great. It's going to mean a lot
for his confidence," Rays manager Joe Maddon said.
Evan Longoria connected in Saturday's
game for Tampa Bay, which won its fifth straight.
Dustin Pedroia hit his fifth home run —
a two-run shot — and Kevin Youkilis had a two-run homer for Boston.
Marco Scutaro hit his first long ball
for the Red Sox, but made an error that led to one of five unearned
runs.
James Shields (1-0) pitched 6 2-3
innings, allowing four runs and nine hits, with one walk and seven
strikeouts. He improved to 4-7 in his career against the Red Sox.
Rafael Soriano recorded three outs
for his second save of the day and fourth this season.
Clay Buchholz (1-1) worked five
innings and gave up four unearned runs — all in the first inning after
center fielder Mike Cameron dropped a line drive for an error.
Burrell's bases-loaded double came
one batter after Cameron dropped Carlos Pena's liner that would have
ended the inning. B. J. Upton walked to fill the bases before Burrell
lofted a fly ball that dropped in down the right field line.
"A big error in the game," Cameron
said. "I usually don't make excuses. It kind of cut on me a little, but I
make that play plenty of times. I should have made the play."
Scutaro's homer made it 4-1 in the
fifth, but Upton reached on Scutaro's fielding error in the sixth and
scored on John Jaso's double.
Longoria homered in the seventh to
make it 6-1 before Pedroia and Youkilis connected in the bottom half.
"It's frustrating," Youkilis said of a
wasted opportunity at the end of the first game and errors in the
second. "We've got to do everything better."
Burrell started the winning rally in
the only other suspended game in Tampa Bay's history, too.
In the deciding game of the 2008
World Series, Burrell — then a member of the Philadelphia Phillies —
started the winning rally with a double off the center-field wall after
play resumed in Game 5 following a nearly 50-hour suspension because of
rain. The Phillies clinched the title that night.
"The irony of it," Maddon said. "I
guess he's good at that play."
Lance Cormier (2-0) worked three
innings of two-hit relief for the win in a game that started Friday
night.
Burrell homered off Manny Delcarmen
(0-1).
Before the game was halted late
Friday night because of rain, the Rays scored in the third on Ben
Zobrist's RBI single and the Red Sox tied it in the fifth on Jason
Varitek's third homer — and third hit — of the season.
Boston failed to score in the 11th
after J.D. Drew and Pedroia singled and Longoria booted Youkilis'
grounder for an error, loading the bases.
"We had a great opportunity," Boston
manager Terry Francona said. "We couldn't get a better opportunity."
Maddon brought right fielder Zobrist
into the middle of the diamond for five infielders before David Ortiz
grounded into a force when first baseman Pena fired home, cutting down
Drew. Adrian Beltre then grounded to Longoria, who stepped on third and
threw to first, ending the inning.
"I was very pumped," Cormier said.
"It took a little bit to sink in what happened."
Daniel Bard worked two hitless
innings in relief of Jonathan Papelbon, who was pitching when the game
was stopped Friday night.
But Francona had to replace his
closer because Papelbon's wife, Ashley, gave birth to the couple's first
child – an 8-pound, 8-ounce boy they named Gunner Robert — earlier
Saturday.
Notes
Boston OF Jacoby Ellsbury, who
bruised his ribs in a collision with 3B Beltre last Sunday in Kansas
City, called Saturday "the best progression" after he played catch and
took 25 swings. He's hopeful to be back in the lineup midweek.