Final Score, Red Sox 8-4: Padilla took the mound to finish this one off and quickly set down the first two batters in order.
Padilla allowed back-to-back singles but eventually slammed the door on the Rays as Daniel Nava made a basket catch to clinch the victory.
Top 9th, Red Sox 8-4: Nate Spears started off the inning with a bunt single, and then stole second base (although he may have gotten a generous call).
Lueke responded by striking out both Daniel Nava and Heiker Meneses before allowing an RBI single to Ciriaco. Ryan Dent singled to extend the inning, but was then gunned down on a steal attempt by Lobaton.
Bottom 8th, Red Sox 7-4: Padilla settled down after an eventful seventh inning, notching two strikeouts in a four-batter eighth inning.
Padilla sat down Elliott Johnson looking and got Pedro Feliciano to ground out to Gomez at first base. Jose Lobaton was able to single to left field, but Padilla promptly struck out Jeff Salazar swinging.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 7-4: The Rays' fifth pitcher of the day had one of their crispest innings. Josh Lueke set down Kroeger, Gomez and Ronald Bermudez in order in a brisk inning.
Bottom 7th, Red Sox 7-4: Vicente Padilla came on for the Sox to begin the bottom of the seventh, and his results were mixed.
Fuld bunted for a leadoff single and Jennings followed with a solid line-drive base hit. Scott grounded into a potential double-play but Heiker Meneses was not able to make the transfer at shortstop, allowing Fuld to score.
After a fly out by Zobrist, Longoria walked to load the bases. No matter for the Red Sox, since Pena was up. The Rays first baseman struck out for the third time, recording the hat trick.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 7-3: Not much happening in the top of the seventh. Ciriaco flied out to right, Ryan Dent fouled out to the catcher and Dan Butler lined to left field.
Bottom 6th, Red Sox 7-3: Zobrist looked bad striking out on a pitch in the dirt to lead off the inning. Thomas did not look so great after that. Longoria, Pena and Keppinger singled off Thomas — Keppinger literally singled off Thomas, plunking the pitcher in the back with a comebacker before the ball ricocheted past Red Sox second baseman Pedro Ciriaco — to bring in a run.
Joyce struck out, dropping him to 1-for-3 on the day. Molina never seemed to get a good look at Thomas' off-speed stuff, but Thomas tried to sneak a fastball that Molina pulled into left field. Pena came home from third base but Keppinger was wiped out trying to advance from first to third to end the inning.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 7-1: For the Rays, Cesar Ramos was their fourth pitcher of the game. For the Red Sox, Ramos was their fourth victim.
The Red Sox stretched out the left-hander by scratching out a run. Gomez led off with a single and moved to second base on a wild pitch. Repko flied out to right field and Spears whiffed, but Hassan hit a hard ball over the third base bag that Longoria handled cleanly but threw wildly to first. Gomez came around to score on the error.
Aviles lined out softly to second base for the Red Sox, who appear ready to introduce a new pitcher in the bottom of the inning. It will be Justin Thomas, the 28-year-old left-hander.
Bottom 5th, Red Sox 6-1: The Rays' half of the fifth inning had a little bit of everything except any scoring.
Joyce led off with a single and stayed there through a long at-bat by Molina and a pop out to shortstop by Fuld. Desmond Jennings then reached on an error by Ryan Dent at third base, moving Joyce to second base.
Joyce caught Buchholz by surprise to steal third, earning his first stolen base of the spring. Then Scott scalded a ball to right field right at Nate Spears, who casually made the catch for the third out.
That was a relatively easy five innings for Buchholz, who allowed four hits but did not issue a walk.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 6-1: Kyle Farnsworth, who was essentially unhittable last season, showed that he's off to a similar start this year.
The righty had little trouble retiring Ross, Saltalamacchia and Kroeger, the latter failing to earn an RBI for the first time in this game.
Bottom 4th, Red Sox 6-1: Buchholz made quick work again of the Rays, retiring Longoria, Pena and Keppinger in order.
Longoria took another home run swing but this one only resulted in a fly out to center field. Pena struck out yet again in his quest to be the only two-outcome player (homer or strikeout) in the majors.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 6-1: With Repko and Spears at the corners, the Rays appeared to have Spears positioned for an easy double play. Spears was running on the pitch to Hassan, who lined in the direction of shortstop Keppinger. The ball eluded Keppinger by just a foot, though, and instead of hitting into a double play, Hassan had an RBI single and Spears advanced to third base.
The Rays got their double play on the next batter, but Spears was able to score and extend Boston's lead to 6-1.
Bottom 3rd, Red Sox 4-1: Jose Molina will never win a footrace with any animate object. He hit one deep in the hole than Aviles had to go to a backhand to pick up, and if Aviles hadn't thrown low to Gomez, Molina would have been dead to rights at first base.
Molina was one of two Tampa Bay baserunners in the inning as Jennings singled two batters later, but the Rays were still unable to crack Buchholz. Scott grounded out to the first baseman unassisted and Zobrist went down looking.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 4-1: Saltalamacchia worked another walk on a borderline pitch, forcing in a third run to go on Moore's ledger. Kroeger added a run on a sacrifice fly to left field that plated Punto.
Kroeger doubled his run producting for the spring in his first two at-bats in this game. He entered the game with two RBI and after his second-inning homer and this sac fly he now has four ribbies in 11 games.
Top 3rd, Red Sox 2-1: Things unraveled quickly for Moore. He allowed two home runs but worked through the rest of the Red Sox lineup quickly in his first two innings, but he ran into trouble in the third. The first four batters of the inning reached for the Red Sox, and he only managed a force out of Alex Hassan at second base.
Romulo Sanchez, a 27-year-old right-hander, replaced Moore and will pitch to Saltalamacchia.
Bottom 2nd, Red Sox 2-1: Longoria has had a rough spring, posting just one RBI and no hits in nine at-bats. With one swing, though, he looked like everything was right again. Longoria uncorked a line drive to left field that rocketed over the fence to cut the Red Sox' lead in half.
Pena struck out, as he tends to do, and Keppinger and Joyce grounded out. So far, with nothing but quick outs and long balls, this game is just cruising along.
Mid 2nd, Red Sox 2-0: A lefty and a righty have now gone yard on the southpaw Moore. Josh Kroeger, who swings left-handed, followed Ross' first-inning shot by going deep to right field.
Gomez, Repkon and Spears went down in order for the Red Sox after the homer, so in a way, Moore has yet to allow a baserunner. Ross and Kroeger weren't quite "runners." They were more like base joggers.
Bottom 1st, Red Sox 1-0: A one-out bunt single by Luke Scott did not faze Buchholz. He enduced a 4-6-3 double play to wipe out Scott and Ben Zobrist for an efficient three-batter first inning.
Mid 1st, Red Sox 1-0: Cody Ross continued to tear the cover off the ball this spring, scalding a Moore offering high to left field for a home run.
The blast increased Ross' spring training totals to 10 hits and five RBI in nine games.
Aviles and Punto went down in order to begin the game. Saltalamacchia went down swinging to follow Ross' homer.
12:10 p.m.: After an encouraging outing by Josh Beckett on Saturday, Clay Buchholz takes the mound for the Red Sox against the Rays.
Buchholz has made two spring training starts and allowed two earned runs in five innings. He will take on Matt Moore, who earned the win for the Rays in Game 1 of last fall's American League Division Series.
The lineups appear below.
Red Sox
Mike Aviles, SS
Nick Punto, 2B
Cody Ross, RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Josh Kroeger, DH
Mauro Gomez, 1B
Jason Repko, CF
Nate Spears, 3B
Alex Hassan, LF
Clay Buchholz, P
Rays
Desmond Jennings, LF
Luke Scott, DH
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Evan Longoria, 3B
Carlos Pena, 1B
Jeff Keppinger, SS
Matt Joyce, RF
Jose Molina, C
Sam Fuld, CF
Matt Moore, P
