Boston went 12-7 in the 19-game stretch against baseball's best teams that figured to be a major test. Their reward? A seven-game homestand against Kansas City and Oakland.
Daisuke Matsuzaka will start the opener of a four-game series against the Royals on Thursday night. We will be following that one from high above home plate at Fenway Park. First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 11-2: Adrian Beltre has tied a career high with six RBIs after smoking a two-run triple in the ninth. He then scores his third run when Jeremy Hermida lines a single to right. Beltre also had six RBIs on July 27, 2000, as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers while playing at Coors Field.
Kevin Youkilis, who scored on Beltre's triple, is now one walk away from tying Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski (30 in 1971) for the most in team history in the month of May. Youk entered the night with the third-highest on-base percentage (.560) in Red Sox history for the month, trailing only Wade Boggs (1986) and Ted Williams (1954).
Joe Nelson will pitch the ninth to finish off the impressive three-game sweep.
End 8th, Red Sox 6-2: As soon as I give Ramon Ramirez some grief, he tosses a perfect eighth to get the Sox to the final frame in command. Both Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon were seen loosening up in the Boston bullpen.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-2: The Rays are going to be kicking themselves after this one. They have outhit the Sox 9-8, been handed four walks and have the game's only two stolen bases. But 11 left on base, including eight who were in scoring position, has them staring at their first three-game losing streak this season.
Then again, the shaky Ramon Ramirez is on in relief for Boston. Tampa Bay may get another opportunity soon.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-2: Hideki Okajima does his job to get the last two outs in the seventh and the Red Sox are six outs away from a three-game sweep. Just to add a little perspective — Boston would be just 5 1/2 games out in the American League East with 40 games still to play before we even reach the All-Star break. Hard to imagine that portions of the fan base threw in the towel weeks ago.
9:40 p.m.: Shows what I know. John Lackey is sent back out to start the seventh, but is removed after giving up a one-out single to Evan Longoria. Hideki Okajima is on in relief.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 6-2: With an infield single in the seventh, Adrian Beltre has his second three-hit game in his last three outings, and his sixth multi-hit performance in the last eight games overall.
End 6th, Red Sox 6-2: In what may be his last inning of the night, John Lackey has his best. He gets three straight groundouts and sends the Sox to the seventh in good shape.
Lackey has thrown 107 pitches. While it hasn't always been pretty, he has given the team its fifth straight quality start.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 6-2: There has been action in the Red Sox bullpen as John Lackey's pitch count approaches 100. His lead remains at four runs after David Ortiz strikes out with bases loaded to end the top of the sixth.
End 5th, Red Sox 6-2: John Lackey continues to allow a slew of runners, but keeps getting out of trouble. Terry Francona likes to use the word "compete" when describing Lackey, and that's what we are seeing the right-hander do against the Rays, who have left nine on base already.
Andy Sonnanstine has relieved Matt Garza for Tampa Bay. Garza gave up six runs on five hits and five walks.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 6-2: Power and pitching. The formula continues to yield positive results for the Red Sox, and David Ortiz continues to carry the torch for the former of the two. He pounces on a Matt Garza fastball for a two-run shot, his ninth in 19 games this month.
Ortiz has four hits in his career against Garza. Three are home runs. The nine bombs in May represents a high for the month for Ortiz.
Nine of the Red Sox' 14 runs in this series have come via home runs.
End 4th, Red Sox 4-2: Base runners are coming in droves against John Lackey, who has allowed six hits and walked three in the first four innings. He's been able to wiggle out of jams several times, including in the fourth, when he left runners at second and third.
Tampa Bay does get a run in the inning, however, when Carlos Pena doubles and Reid Brignac singles him in. The Rays also had two stolen bases in the inning, including the 32nd straight steal for Carl Crawford against the Red Sox.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 4-1: Matt Garza finally has an easy inning as he sets the Red Sox down in order. Adrian Beltre is due up fourth in the fifth, seeking his third home run of the game. Beltre has hit two home runs in a game 20 times, including tonight, but has never hit three.
End 3rd, Red Sox 4-1: John Lackey picks a great time to pick up his first strikeout as he gets Evan Longoria swinging with a runner at third for the second out of the third.
Lackey did walk the next man but got a foul pop to leave the runners stranded at the corners.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 4-1: Adrian Beltre was the one Red Sox hitter in the starting lineup who had good numbers against Matt Garza. Good has become great after Beltre homers for the second time in two innings, this time a three-run blast.
Beltre is now 7-for-15 in his career against the Rays' righty.
Garza walked two in the frame and has issued five free passes already. He is seemingly behind every hitter and has already thrown 76 pitches.
End 2nd, 1-1: The Sox got their run on a no-doubter off the bat of Adrian Beltre in the top of the second. The Rays get it right back by playing small ball.
A single, a walk and a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third with one out. Reid Brignac grounded to shortstop Marco Scutaro to drive in the run.
Also in the second, John Lackey and Jason Varitek had one of the longer talks on the mound I've ever seen permitted. At one point in the marathon conversation both were smiling, the crowd was booing and home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez was just standing and waiting for the pair to iron out their issues. They appeared to be crossed up on the previous pitch.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 1-0: Lost in all the talk of Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz hitting so well in the month of May is the stretch that Adrian Beltre has had. After hammering Matt Garza's second pitch of the second inning into the seats in left field, Beltre upped his May numbers to .326 (30-for-92) with all four of his home runs and 19 RBIs.
Garza is throwing a lot of pitches and keeps missing with his fastball. He issued his third walk of the game, this one to Jason Varitek, with one out, but did battle back to fan both Mike Cameron and Darnell McDonald.
Garza has thrown 44 pitches, just 24 for strikes.
End 1st, 0-0: There have been a ton of wasted opportunities in the opening innings of this series. In three games the teams have combined to put 13 men on in the first frame, yet none have scored.
John Lackey gives up back-to-back singles with one out in the first but works out of it. An over-the-shoulder catch by Kevin Youkilis in shallow right is a huge play for the second out.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Matt Garza doesn't allow many to reach base, but he walks two in the first and runs the count full to Kevin Youkilis, the Red Sox' hottest hitter. But Garza escapes when Youkilis grounds into a 5-4-3 double play.
Just like Tuesday night, when the Sox left the bases loaded against James Shields in the first, they may regret not taking advantage of a scoring opportunity early. We'll see.
7:10 p.m.: Expect the Rays to be pretty charged up for this one after dropping the first two, seeing their manager and left fielder ejected Tuesday and perhaps still a bit upset at David Ortiz's long home-run trot Monday. We are underway at the Trop.
6:57 p.m.: When the Sox face Matt Garza in just a few moments, they will send out nine guys who are a collective .213 (39-for-183) against the righty. Here are a few more numbers to ponder entering Wednesday night's series finale.
- Kevin Youkilis enters leading the majors in runs (40) and walks (38) and ranks second with an on-base percentage of .458.
- The Sox have had four straight quality starts. The last time they had five in a row was May 16-21, 2009.
- John Lackey has a 3.79 ERA in night games, but a 7.94 mark in day affairs.
- Tampa Bay has 213 wins since the start of 2008, three behind Boston, five behind the New York Yankees and six behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
- The Rays have scored 95 more runs than they have allowed. That is the largest run differential at this stage of the season since the 1994 White Sox (+97) and the league's fourth-best mark since 1961.
- Four of Tampa Bay's five starters rank in the top 10 in the AL in ERA.
6:39 p.m.: The injury updates are plentiful from the Trop. Let's go through them one at a time.
Jacoby Ellsbury told Peter Abraham with The Boston Globe that the soreness in his side is in the same area that it was when he was originally hurt and hopes it does not require a DL sting.
Victor Martinez is available to catch in a pinch but the Sox will want to stick with Jason Varitek for all nine innings so that Martinez can rest his bruised toe once more, according to Abraham.
J.D. Drew has needed a day off for some time and will finally get it. Terry Francona has said a few times that he wants to get Drew on the bench for a day to ensure that his current ailments don't turn into long-term issues.
Josh Beckett will throw a side session Friday.
5:55 p.m.: With Jacoby Ellsbury, J.D. Drew and Victor Martinez on the sidelines, Terry Francona is forced to jumble a few things to come up with a starting lineup for the finale with the Rays. Here are the complete lineups for both teams:
Red Sox
Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Jeremy Hermida, LF
Jason Varitek, C
Mike Cameron, CF
Darnell McDonald, RF
Rays
Jason Bartlett, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Ben Zobrist, RF
Evan Longoria, 3B
John Jaso, C
Hank Blalock, DH
Carlos Pena, 1B
Sean Rodriguez, CF
Reid Brignac, 2B
And here is a look at the numbers and storylines inside the lineups.
Back in a bit with a few more pregame updates.
8 a.m.:The Red Sox were completely overmatched in losing four straight to the Tampa Bay Rays last month. They have turned the tables on the high-powered Rays this week, and can earn a three-game sweep with a victory in Wednesday's series finale.
Boston has held the Rays to one run on seven hits in the first two games of the series. The latest triumph, a 2-0 decision Tuesday behind Jon Lester, gave the Sox seven wins in eight games.
John Lackey will attempt to keep alive the club's current run of dominant starts. The rotation is 6-1 with a 1.44 ERA in the last seven games. Lackey had the one loss, giving up four runs in five innings in Philadelphia on Friday.
Tampa Bay counters with Matt Garza, who has owned the Sox in his young career.
First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
