The youngster, who has struggled a bit of late after a hot start at the big league level, was 2-for-3 with his second grand slam in less than three weeks and the first multi-stolen base effort of his career.
"I'm not surprised at all," said Lars Anderson, who was teammates with Kalish at Pawtucket and Portland this year. "That guy is one of the most dynamic players I've seen as far as all the tools and just being together. It's pretty fun to watch."
Terry Francona on the grand slam: "Ah man, what a good swing. Sonnanstine at the time looked like he was having trouble commanding. [Kalish] got a cutter over the plate, took a very welcome swing. Good for him."
The effort by Kalish highlighted an odd victory. The Red Sox only had nine hits to the Rays' eight and were outscored 3-1 over the final five innings, but they had all three home runs in the game and drew 10 walks.
At this point in the season, whatever works.
It'll be Daisuke Matsuzaka against David Price in another must-win game Tuesday night. First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
Final, Red Sox 12-5: Portions of it were not pretty but the Red Sox have at least kept themselves alive. They snap a four-game home losing streak with their best offensive showing since before the All-Star break and move within 6 1/2 games of the Rays.
Ryan Kalish is the star, going 2-for-3 with a grand slam, two stolen bases and three runs scored. Jon Lester picks up his 16th win with six solid innings.
Off to the very crowded Boston clubhouse for reaction. See you in a few.
End 8th, Red Sox 12-5: Hideki Okajima will get some work in here in the ninth. Hopefully it is clean and we can get out before the four-hour mark is reached for the second straight day. Did I say that out loud?
Josh Reddick has taken over in right field. Kevin Cash is behind the plate.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 12-5: The Red Sox have outhit the Rays 9-8. Nine walks and three home runs by the hosts have made all the difference.
End 7th, Red Sox 12-5: How often do you see a player have a grand slam and two stolen bases in the same game? Someone get Elias on the line. Ryan Kalish has accomplished that feat and has now scored three times after coming in on Yamaico Navarro's sacrifice fly.
It is Navarro's second career RBI.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 11-5: How do I spell relief? A-T-C-H-I-S-O-N. The Red Sox avoid any further damage when Scott Atchison comes on to get a pair of outs with the bases loaded.
9:57 p.m.: This has to be a joke. Dustin Richardson, who walked the only man he faced in Sunday's debacle, does the same here in the seventh, allowing the Rays' third run of the inning to come in. Scott Atchison is on to try to end this charade.
I know I just mentioned it, but it bears repeating, or at least updating. Five out of the last seven runs the Red Sox have allowed have been on walks with the bases loaded.
You almost have to try to do that.
9:51 p.m.: And with this game approaching three hours in length we get Terry Francona to the mound to rescue Robert Coello in the top of the seventh. Coello gave up three straight singles and then two straight bases-loaded walks in his major league debut.
Dustin Richardson is on with the bases still full and the Rays within seven. Carlos Pena is up.
Four of the last six runs scored against Boston have come in on bases-loaded walks.
End 6th, Red Sox 11-2: Strap yourselves in, folks. We are about to take in the major league debut of Red Sox right-hander Robert Coello, a relatively hard thrower who was seen squinting at a TV in the clubhouse earlier.
I kid, of course. Well, he was squinting, but Coello is a pretty interesting story. He took an unconventional route to the majors, starting as a catcher in the Reds system and sitting out a long time with injury before the Angels converted him to a pitcher in 2007.
He was plucked by the Red Sox from the independent leagues before 2009 and had 130 strikeouts in just 107 1/3 innings at Portland and Pawtucket this year.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 11-2: Ten straight retired by Jon Lester, who now has 10 strikeouts for the third straight game. He retired 13 of the last 16 he faced in his previous outing so finishing strong has been a recent trend for the lefty.
End 5th, Red Sox 11-2: Boston goes quietly in the fifth, except for the J.D. Drew single that sent shards of his bat toward pitcher Andy Sonnanstine.
Jon Lester begins the sixth with a pitch count of 87.
By the way, Ryan Kalish has tied the Red Sox rookie record for grand slams in a season (2). Seven others have done it, including the great Bob Zupcic in 1992.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 11-2: Nothing better than a big inning from your offense followed by a 1-2-3 inning from your starter. Jon Lester has retired seven straight.
End 4th, Red Sox 11-2: Ryan Kalish's first three major league home runs have included a two-run shot in Yankee Stadium, just miles from where he grew up, and a pair of grand slams at Fenway Park. Something special about this kid.
After Andy Sonnanstine loads the bases on two singles and a walk he then forces in a run with another free pass before Kalish unloads on a 3-1 cutter, sending it over the Tampa Bay bullpen some 400 feet from home plate.
The Red Sox really needed a night like this. Obviously they need the win, but there have been so few offensive outbursts of late. It's also nice seeing it come from both the young (Kalish) and old (David Ortiz) alike.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 6-2: In the odd innings Jon Lester has given up two runs on four hits and three walks. In the even frames he has retired all six batters he has faced, four of them with a strikeout.
End 3rd, Red Sox 6-2: Rookie Yamaico Navarro had a hit on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues. Since then he is 1-for-16 with five strikeouts. He also was extremely slow getting a throw off on a Jason Bartlett infield hit in the Rays' half of the third. He certainly needs more seasoning.
In case any of you missed it earlier, Marco Scutaro's troublesome shoulder is not any worse than it was. That's not why Navarro is in for a second straight game.
Scutaro is due for an MRI on Tuesday. Rather than bring him back before the test Terry Francona decided to give him one more day. Might as well make sure the exam shows no new damage before sending Scutaro back out there.
In the meantime, Navarro goes through his growing pains.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 6-2: When you have a five-run lead at home and Jon Lester is on the mound, you should feel pretty good about yourself. Despite all that, the Red Sox had to get Scott Atchison up in the bullpen as the plate continued to jump around on Lester.
The lefty walked two batters in the third. The second loaded the bases and Sean Rodriguez's infield hit on a bad hop to Adrian Beltre gives the Rays a run.
The first free pass gave Lester a new career-high in that category. He now has 68 walks in 179 innings this year. His previous high was 66, which came in 210 1/3 innings in 2008.
That has been the one major issue for Lester all year. He has thrown 69 pitches already.
End 2nd, Red Sox 6-1: David Ortiz adds to the damage in the second with an RBI double off the Green Monster. Nine Red Sox hitters come to the plate.
In case you need a quick play-by-play, this is what happened.
Ryan Kalish led off with a single and stole second. Lars Anderson struck out in his first major league at-bat and Yamaico Navarro did the same.
Daniel Nava then worked a two-out walk and J.D. Drew earned one of his own to load the bases.
Victor Martinez then grounded a two-run single into right to make it 5-1. Ortiz, who homered in the first, capped the rally.
The Rays will need length out of Andy Sonnanstine or run the risk of using up their bullpen in the first game of the series.
8:14 p.m.: We said in all of our preview information that the Red Sox had a good chance to get to Jeff Niemann, who has just been awful since coming off the DL. They have in a big way, chasing him with two outs in the second inning after Victor Martinez's two-run single.
Interesting inning. The first four hitters for Boston have a combined 79 big league games under their belt. One, Lars Anderson, is at the plate for the first time ever.
The next two, J.D. Drew and Martinez, have played 2,451 between them.
Andy Sonnanstine is on in relief.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 3-1: Rocco Baldelli's return to Fenway Park begins with a liner to shortstop Yamaico Navarro. Jon Lester then picks up his third and fourth strikeouts to get through the second in fine fashion.
Lester has 24 strikeouts in 15 innings over his last three starts.
End 1st, Red Sox 3-1: With two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the first, the Red Sox' starters had gone 65 at-bats against Jeff Niemann without hitting a home run. After David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre were done, they had two homers in 67 at-bats vs. the righty.
Moments after Tampa Bay pitching coach Jim Hickey paid Niemann a visit Ortiz smacked a belt-high fastball deep down the right-field line for his team-high 28th of the year.
Beltre then poked one to left, his 26th home run of the season. He has now scored 900 runs in his career.
Niemann has given up 20 runs in 9 1/3 innings since coming off the disabled list Aug. 25.
Finally, can someone please give Bobo a hug? He needs it, as well as a reality check.
Mid 1st, Rays 1-0: Jon Lester's first-inning woes continue. He allowed five runs in the first three starts ago, four runs in the first his last time out and is reached for a quick run in this one.
Lester gave up two hits and walked Carlos Pena in a 29-pitch inning.
6:36 p.m.: The Red Sox are 1-5 at home against Tampa Bay this year and have dropped four in a row at Fenway Park overall, one shy of their season high.
At 40-29, Boston's home mark does not reflect the dominance the club has shown here in recent years.
Since 2003, the Sox have averaged over 53 wins a year at Fenway. Even winning the remainder of their games at home they would not equal that average and will likely finish with their worst home mark since 2002 (42-39).
They are 12-3 on Labor Day, however, so there's that.
5:41 p.m.: An interesting scene in the Rays' clubhouse earlier. The last inning of the Yankees' loss to Baltimore was on TV for all to see and nobody moved a muscle or said a thing.
Safe to say the Rays are focused on this series, which would at least eliminate one of the teams chasing them. Then they can focus on tracking down the Yanks.
Transcribing all of Lars Anderson and Rocco Baldelli's quotes. Their stories will be up in a bit. Both had some interesting things to say.
Both are in the lineup. We gave you Boston's earlier. Here are the Rays' starters:
B.J. Upton, CF
Jason Bartlett, SS
Carl Crawford, LF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Carlos Pena, 1B
Sean Rodriguez, 2B
Rocco Baldelli, DH
Ben Zobrist, RF
Kelly Shoppach, C
5:04 p.m.: We have spoken with Rocco Baldelli, who is back after his remarkable 2010 debut Sunday. More on him in a moment. Also waiting for BP to end to speak with Lars Anderson, so look for more on his debut. For now here is a quick news and notes session from the desk of Terry Francona.
Jason Varitek, who said earlier Monday that he intends on playing another season, will be active for Monday's game. He likely won't play but Francona figured if he's around, why not have another body. Just in case.
As mentioned, Lars Anderson is here and batting eighth. Josh Reddick strolled into the clubhouse at around 3:55 p.m. after homering and doubling for Pawtucket earlier in the day. Both are active.
Michael Bowden will be brought in Tuesday.
Marco Scutaro is not any worse off than he was Sunday, when he was also given a day off, but Francona figured he would give him one more day before the Tuesday MRI just to make sure he gets a clean bill of health. He should be back in there Tuesday, provided the exam does not show anything unexpected.
Felix Doubront threw a side session Monday. He is not quite ready to come back but should increase the intensity off the mound and may be back within the week.
Jonathan Papelbon will obviously not be available tonight after throwing 48 pitches Sunday. Francona said he might be able to bring him back Tuesday but will have to wait and see.
As for Wednesday, the club is still hoping to start Clay Buchholz. It just has to see how these first two games go. Same drill as before — if the Sox win the first two and have a little more hope, Buchholz will start on short rest. If they lose and all hope is lost, essentially, the bullpen will piece it together before Buchholz goes in the series opener Friday in Oakland.
"We reserve the right to see how we do," Francona said.
Off to hear from Anderson. Back in a bit with more.
3:28 p.m.: While Felix Doubront throws a side session we give you a very Pawtucket-heavy starting lineup, including the debut for Lars Anderson. Here it is:
Daniel Nava, LF
J.D. Drew, RF
Victor Martinez, C
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Jed Lowrie, 2B
Ryan Kalish, CF
Lars Anderson, 1B
Yamaico Navarro, SS
3:07 p.m.: The Red Sox would never tell you they are already looking forward to fall, but John Lackey, Bill Hall and Clay Buchholz are currently throwing a football around in the outfield. My guess is Buchholz, who can run like the wind and we know has a great arm, would've made a pretty good signal caller.
2:52 p.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where we have word that Lars Anderson is in the house and that Josh Reddick was pulled from his Pawtucket game and may be on his way up. The locker room is getting crowded.
We should have more on Anderson and Reddick. For the former it will be his first foray into the major league scene. Reddick knows the routine but could use a solid month or so to build momentum heading into the offseason.
Reddick has been on fire of late for the PawSox.
Lineups should be over in a bit. Hang tight.
9 a.m.: If the Red Sox are going to have any meaningful games in the last three weeks of the season it will depend upon what they do over the next three days.
Boston has to sweep a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park to have any life going forward. That effort begins Monday with Jon Lester on the mound.
Lester defeated the Rays with a strong start in Florida last month. He has allowed two earned runs or less in eight of his last 11 starts in the rivalry.
Jeff Niemann goes for Tampa Bay, which has dropped its last two.
First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
