Final, Rays 4-0: Well, it had to end at some point. Might as well end the losing streak in the shortest game of the year, which is what the Red Sox just did.
It’s all about James Shields. Once he avoided issues in a rocky first inning, he cruised.
It doesn’t get a whole lot easier going forward. Jeremy Hellickson, one of the better young righties in the league, goes Wednesday for the Rays and ace David Price goes Thursday.
Boston will have Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz going on their end.
The Beckett-Hellickson matchup begins at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday night. We will be here to carry you through all of the action.
End 8th, Rays 4-0: Some wackiness to close out the eighth.
The Rays got another run on a bloop over a drawn-in infield, but only after Alfredo Aceves and Jarrod Saltalamacchia got their signals crossed on a pitchout. On completely different pages there.
Then, Tampa Bay helps out the cause of Aceves when John Jaso strays too far off first base on a fly to center. He is doubled off for the final out. Jaso thought Casey Kotchman at second was going to advance, but he has to keep his eye on that, or at least get more help from his first base coach.
Adrian Gonzalez, Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz are due up against James Shields.
9:21 p.m.: Well, that didn’t work out too well.
Tommy Hottovy is called upon to just keep this one close, but fails to get an out. A double, hit batter and a single has given the Rays a big third run.
Tampa Bay will have runners on the corners and nobody out when B.J. Upton steps in to face Alfredo Aceves.
With the meat of the Red Sox order due up in the ninth, everything the Rays add on here is huge.
Mid 8th, Rays 2-0: A one-out walk and then a deep drive by Jacoby Ellsbury gave us all a thought that this might be a tie game. However, Ellsbury’s ball dies on the track and James Shields strikes out Dustin Pedroia to get through eight.
Shields is at 101 pitches. With Adrian Gonzalez, who is 3-for-3 in this game and 5-for-6 in his career against Shields, due up, do you take him out? The Rays had a lefty ready for Gonzalez in the eighth. I think the fact that Gonzalez could hit the ball 800 feet and Shields still has the lead makes me think about keeping him in.
Remember, Kevin Youkilis would be the next hitter and he can’t do a thing against the righty.
Something tells me that no matter who pitches the ninth, Carl Crawford will come up in a big spot.
Speaking of lefties coming out of bullpens, Tommy Hottovy is on to start the bottom of the eighth for Boston.
End 7th, Rays 2-0: On his 119th pitch of the night, Tim Wakefield picks up his second strikeout to strand a runner in the seventh.
That has to be it for Wakefield. The five walks against two strikeouts won’t look all that nice, but the one earned run…the Sox will take that any day.
Terry Francona had a lefty up to face three straight lefty hitters. Stuck with Wakefield, against convention, and it paid off. Odd thinking there but it works.
Mid 7th, Rays 2-0: James Shields needed one pitch to retire David Ortiz on a grounder to first.
He then needed 12 pitches to strike out Carl Crawford, who fouled off eight pitches.
Shields then needed just three pitches to strike out Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
It was an awkward 1-2-3 inning, but legit.
Salty has struck out on three pitches twice in this one. Shields is at a very comfortable 85 pitches.
End 6th, Rays 2-0: Now two innings removed from my “Tim Wakefield isn’t walking many people” post, he has now walked four, moving ahead of Kenny Rogers and into 58th place on the all-time list.
The third, issued to Evan Longoria with one out in the sixth, eventually led to the second Tampa Bay run.
Longoria went to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a fielder’s choice and then scored on another passed ball.
The Rays scored a very big run without recording a hit.
Mid 6th, Rays 1-0: Wow, this Kevin Youkilis-James Shields thing is becoming biblical.
Youkilis is 0-for-3 with a strikeout and two GIDPs in this one after finishing the sixth with a 5-4-3 twin killing.
He is now 3-for-34 in his career vs. Shields, and is killing Boston tonight. One wonders if Youkilis would be dropped in the order the next time Shields faces Boston. Terry Francona doesn’t always do stuff like that with his established guys, but this is about as one-sided as such matchups come.
And you know Youkilis is going to hit a go-ahead two-run homer later on. That’s just the way it works.
End 5th, Rays 1-0: Perhaps the drive off the bat of John Jaso that Jacoby Ellsbury caught on the run was a sign of things to come.
Justin Ruggiano followed with a home run to left to start the scoring. We don’t know a ton about Ruggiano, but he’s 16-for-41 (.390) with three home runs and nine RBIs in just 14 games this year. Not bad.
Tim Wakefield then walked the light-hitting Reid Brignac and there was a sense that he might’ve lost his feel for the knuckler. A fielder’s choice and liner to second helps him escape.
That is the 401st home run given up by Wakefield in his career.
Mid 5th, 0-0: J.D. Drew hammered a single to start the fifth, but a quick fly to center and then a 1-6-6-3 double play (ball hit off the glove of James Shields before shortstop Reid Brignac fielded, stepped on second and threw to first) ends it in a heartbeat.
We are rolling.
End 4th, 0-0: It never fails, huh? I mention Tim Wakefield’s plunging walk totals and he goes and issues a free pass to Evan Longoria in the fourth.
If you are going to walk someone, that’s the guy. Not only is he the most dangerous Rays hitter, but entered the encounter 6-for-14 in his career vs. Wakefield.
The knuckleballer gets around it with pair of popouts to Adrian Gonzalez. No damage done.
Mid 4th, 0-0: A nice little duel developing here. James Shields has motored through the last three innings after loading the bases in the first.
The groundout by Carl Crawford to end the first and the double play hit into by Kevin Youkilis could loom large.
Speaking of Crawford, he received a healthy dose of boos his second time up. I don’t get it.
End 3rd, 0-0: I’ll never pretend to understand the knuckleball or predict how someone like Tim Wakefield will do from start to start, year to year. Frankly, he probably has no idea.
One notable stat from his later years is the sudden reduction in walks. Wakefield gave up a pair of hits in the third, but has yet to issue a free pass. He entered this game with a 2.6 BB/9 innings ratio, along with the 2.3 mark from last year the two best ratios of his career. And that is a long career, folks.
For whatever reason, while many other stats remain the same, there have been significantly fewer ball fours. It’s one reason for his success so far this year, and helped him have a couple of nice runs last year.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Kevin Youkilis just cannot solve James Shields.
Youkilis is 3-for-33 (.091) with 11 strikeouts against Shields. The latest out hurt.
After singles by Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez, Youkilis grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Sox are squandering some nice opportunities early on.
End 2nd, 0-0: Seems like we’ve heard Casey Kotchman’s name forever, doesn’t it? The one-time can’t-miss prospect with the Angels and former Red Sox first baseman is still just 28, and perhaps finally hitting a groove.
Not that Kotchman’s bloop single in the second means he is on the road to Cooperstown, but it did raise his average to .340.
Alas, Kotchman was erased on a 6-4-3 double play.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: James Shields threw 23 pitches in the opening frame, but just seven in the second. And that includes a strikeout of Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
The Red Sox catcher went down on three pitches and both J.D. Drew and Marco Scutaro grounded out.
End 1st, 0-0: Some stellar glove work in the first inning for the Red Sox, with a gold star next to Adrian Gonzalez’s play for the second out.
Gonzalez made a fantastic stop of a Ben Zobrist smash that was ticketed for the corner, and then fed Tim Wakefield covering.
Wakefield ended the 1-2-3 inning by stabbing a comebacker off the bat of Matt Joyce.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Carl Crawford’s first at-bat as an opponent in The Trop results in a grounder to first, which wastes a bases-loaded opportunity for the Red Sox.
Before that, you saw plenty of oddities in the top of the first.
Jacoby Ellsbury, a .167 hitter against James Shields, was pitched to like he was Babe Ruth. Ellsbury walked.
Then, Dustin Pedroia, who is a .433 hitter against Shields and has been on fire, chose to try to bunt. Not sure why, but he popped it back to the mound.
After Adrian Gonzalez singled off the glove of first baseman Casey Kotchman, the slow-footed Gonzalez was nearly picked off first base.
Finally, we saw a few things we expected. Shields strikes out Kevin Youkilis with a changeup, dropping Youkilis to 3-for-32 vs. the righty. David Ortiz drew a walk before Crawford stepped in to a somewhat mixed reaction.
7:11 p.m.: The first pitch to Jacoby Ellsbury is a ball, and this very important series is under way.
6:03 p.m.: It’s always fun looking at some of the head-to-head numbers when Tim Wakefield is on the mound, for two reasons.
One, you know the sample size will be ample. Again, the sample will be ample.
Two, there are so many opponents who have either destroyed the knuckleball, or cannot figure it out.
Here is the Rays lineup against Wakefield, followed by a few numbers:
Johnny Damon, DH
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Matt Joyce, RF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Casey Kotchman, 1B
B.J. Upton, CF
John Jaso, C
Justin Ruggiano, LF
Reid Brignac, SS
Damon is 20-for-64 (.313) with four home runs, eight walks and 10 RBIs against Wakefield. He is also 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts. Longoria is 6-for-13 (.462) with a home run vs. the veteran. Ben Zobrist and B.J. Upton are a combined 8-for-40 (.200) with nine strikeouts.
5:38 p.m.: For a look at tonight’s matchups, click here. For a quick thought on Carl Crawford’s return, click here.
Back in a bit with a few pregame notes, and then we will be off and running in a series that has some major implications for both sides. In my opinion, it is mammoth for Tampa Bay if it is going to think of itself as a contender in this division.
3:48 p.m.: Tonight marks the first time Carl Crawford plays as a visitor at Tropicana Field. We will see what kind of reaction he gets by the second inning, at the latest.
Crawford is batting sixth against former teammate James Shields. Here is the full Boston batting order:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
Kevin Youkilis, 3B
David Ortiz, DH
Carl Crawford, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
J.D. Drew, RF
Marco Scutaro, SS
8:45 a.m.: The Red Sox will try to stretch their winning streak to 10 games Tuesday night when they take on the Tampa Bay Rays in the first of three straight.
The nine-game run is the longest since Boston won 11 in a row in 2009. The team has scored an amazing 83 runs in the winning streak, an average of more than nine a game.
If history is any indication, consecutive win No. 10 will come on the strength of Tim Wakefield’s right arm. The veteran knuckleballer, who is four wins shy of 200 for his career, is 21-6 lifetime versus Tampa Bay, and 10-4 with a 3.40 ERA at Tropicana Field.
Then again, Wakefield is just 2-4 with an 8.50 ERA in his last nine games against the Rays.
Tampa Bay counters with James Shields, who carries a 2.85 ERA into the contest. The righty is 5-9 with a 5.17 ERA vs. Boston.
The Red Sox lead the third-place Rays by 4 1/2 games in the American League East.
First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
