Final, Red Sox 3-1: Andrew Bailey may have blown a save, but Jonny Gomes ensured that the Red Sox still came away with a win.
Gomes launched a first-pitch fastball over the Green Monster for a two-run homer, and the Red Sox walked off with a 3-1 victory in the nightcap of their doubleheader with the Rays.
Felix Doubront was excellent in eight shutout innings for the Red Sox, who also took Game 1 of the twin bill. He struck out six, didn’t walk anyone and retired the last 16 batters he faced. John Farrell even said after the game that he considered leaving Doubront in for the ninth — the lefty only threw 93 pitches — but he ultimately decided to go with Bailey, who he made clear is still the team’s closer despite the right-hander’s recent rough patch.
Prior to the ninth inning, the only run of the game came on a second-inning home run from Daniel Nava. The score stayed 1-0 until Kelly Johnson smacked a solo homer off Bailey on the closer’s second pitch in the ninth inning. That set up Gomes’ walk-off heroics in the bottom half of the inning.
Game 1 of the doubleheader was a lengthy affair, but Game 2 was relatively quick. Both yielded the same result for the Red Sox, however, and that’s all that matters to them at the end of the day.
The Red Sox and Rays will go at it again Wednesday before Boston heads back out on the road.
Good night, everyone.
Mid 9th, 1-1: Andrew Bailey took over for Felix Doubront to begin the ninth inning. Two pitches later, we had a tie game.
Kelly Johnson drilled a 1-0 fastball over the right field fence to wash away all of Doubront’s hard work.
Doubront, who tossed eight shutout innings before handing the ball over to Bailey, will not factor into the decision despite pitching a gem. It’s now up to the Red Sox’ offense to make sure that a win is still in the cards.
The Red Sox are actually fortunate that the game is tied going into the bottom of the ninth. After Ben Zobrist walked with two outs, Evan Longoria drilled a hard ground ball to the left side. Jose Iglesias made a sensational diving play at third base, popped up and tossed a rocket to second base to complete the inning-ending forceout.
Daniel Nava, Jonny Gomes and Jarrod Saltalamacchia are due up in the ninth inning.
End 8th, Red Sox 1-0: Felix Doubront won’t have a chance to finish what he started. But what an effort.
Doubront exits after eight fantastic innings. Andrew Bailey is now coming on to try to record the save.
Dustin Pedroia walked with two down in the eighth inning, but David Ortiz grounded sharply into the shift to send us into the ninth inning with a one-run game.
Doubront gave up just three hits — all in the first three innings — while striking out six.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 1-0: Felix Doubront is tossing a gem right now.
Doubront enjoyed another perfect inning in the eighth, and he has now retired 16 straight. He has only allowed three hits in the game, and all three came in the first three innings.
Doubront sat down Wil Myers, Luke Scott and Matt Joyce, who pinch hit for Jose Lobaton, in the eighth inning.
Doubront struck out Scott swinging with a 91 mph fastball. He now has six strikeouts total.
The left-hander has only thrown 93 pitches through eight innings, so we could see Doubront come out to try and finish this one off, although Andrew Bailey is warming up in the bullpen.
End 7th, Red Sox 1-0: Daniel Nava’s second-inning home run is still the difference.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia worked a one-out walk in the seventh inning, but Alex Torres worked around the free pass to once again keep the Red Sox’ offense off the scoreboard.
Torres struck out Jonny Gomes to begin the seventh. He went with all offspeed stuff, and Gomes fouled off a couple of pitches before fanning on a changeup low and out of the zone.
After Salty’s walk, both Jose Iglesias and Stephen Drew flied out to left field.
It’s now back to work for Felix Doubront, who has been excellent through seven innings.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 1-0: Felix Doubront has been sensational. The Red Sox’ offense now needs to add some insurance so that this game doesn’t slip away.
Doubront spun his third straight 1-2-3 inning in the seventh. He has given up just three hits while striking out four and, most importantly, walking no one. The lefty has thrown 82 pitches (52 strikes), so he’s really in great shape right now.
Doubront took care of Ben Zobrist, Evan Longoria and Yunel Escobar in the seventh inning. Zobrist and Longoria both flied out, and Escobar struck out.
Doubront started Escobar off with a couple of offspeed pitches before going with a fastball to pick up the second strike. The left-hander then went back to his secondary stuff to freeze the Rays shortstop.
End 6th, Red Sox 1-0: David Ortiz welcomed Alex Torres to the game with a two-out double. Daniel Nava couldn’t make it count.
Jake Odorizzi started the sixth inning. He got Shane Victorino to fly out to center and Dustin Pedroia to ground out to third before Joe Maddon summoned Torres from the bullpen.
Ortiz wasted no time in greeting Torres. He hit a first-pitch changeup into the right-center field gap for a double.
Nava, who homered in the second inning, failed to produce with a runner in scoring position, though. He grounded to Evan Longoria, who made a nice rangy play before firing to first, where Sean Rodriguez made an excellent stretch while keeping his foot on the bag to complete the out.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 1-0: Felix Doubront is rolling.
Doubront enjoyed his second straight 1-2-3 inning, and he’s now through six innings without a single blemish in the runs column. The lefty is also at just 71 pitches, which is extremely low compared to his previous outings.
Kelly Johnson, Desmond Jennings and Sean Rodriguez went down in order in the sixth inning.
Johnson grounded to first base, where Daniel Nava made the play before flipping to Doubront for the out. Jennings then flied out to shallow center field before Rodriguez popped out to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia in foul territory.
Saltalamacchia, who also caught Game 1, was forced to catch the second game of the doubleheader because of David Ross going on the seven-day concussion list. You can bet that Salty will sleep well after this day of work, and you can also bet that John Farrell will in all likelihood give Ryan Lavarnway the start behind the dish on Wednesday.
End 5th, Red Sox 1-0: Jose Iglesias extended his hit streak to 18 games. How did he do it? Take a guess.
Iglesias, king of the infield single, extended his hitting streak by grounding back up the middle. Yunel Escobar made the play on the run, but the ball was well placed, and Escobar had no chance of throwing out Iglesias.
That put runners at first and third with one out, as Stephen Drew preceded Iglesias’ streak-extending hit with a double off the left field wall.
Jacoby Ellsbury couldn’t cash in on the scoring chance, though. He grounded to Escobar near second base, and the shortstop took it to the bag himself before firing to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 1-0: Felix Doubront is pitching very well.
Doubront made quick work of the Rays in the fifth inning, striking out two in the process. He needed 13 pitches to take care of business.
Doubront struck out Wil Myers and Jose Lobaton in the inning. Myers went down looking on a 3-2 fastball, and Lobaton fanned on a 2-2 heater.
End 4th, Red Sox 1-0: The Red Sox’ offense generated some activity in the fourth — nothing too crazy, though.
Dustin Pedroia smoked a ball down the third base line with one out. In many ballparks, Pedroia would have had extra bases. Instead, the ball ricocheted off the wall down the line and ended up in shallow left field, resulting in a single.
David Ortiz added to the action by singling into right field, setting up runners at first and second for Daniel Nava, who is responsible for the game’s only run. Nava couldn’t duplicate his second-inning production this time around, as he was instead retired on a sky-high fly ball to center.
Jonny Gomes flied out to center field as well to end the inning.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 1-0: Shane Victorino saw his counterpart make a nice running grab in the third inning, so he decided to provide one of his own in the fourth.
Yunel Escobar made solid contact with two outs. He sent a ball deep to right field that looked like it had a chance to get up over Victorino’s head. The Flyin’ Hawaiian got a good jump and used his speed to track it down, though.
Felix Doubront is actually working at a brisk pace right now, which is very uncharacteristic of the lefty. Doubront is throwing strikes, and his pitch count, which is typically an issue, is staying down as a result.
Doubront has thrown 46 pitches (30 strikes) through four innings of work.
End 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: Wil Myers picked up his first big league hit in the second inning. He enjoyed his first nice grab in the third inning.
After Stephen Drew popped out to begin the frame, Jose Iglesias drove a ball toward the right-center field gap. Initially, it looked as if it had a chance to get over Myers’ head, but the rookie raced back to make a running grab.
Jake Odorizzi ended the inning by getting Jacoby Ellsbury to fly out harmlessly to left field.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 1-0: Felix Doubront is through three innings, and we haven’t seen any control issues yet.
Doubront, who typically endures a hiccup at some point, allowed a leadoff single to Kelly Johnson in the third, but he benefited from a big double play.
Following Johnson’s single, Doubront got Desmond Jennings to fly out to right field. Sean Rodriguez then grounded to second base, where Dustin Pedroia kicked off a 4-6-3, inning-ending double play.
8:44 p.m., Red Sox 1-0: The Red Sox have announced some roster moves.
Clay Buchholz was placed on the 15-day disabled list (retroactive to June 9). That means he’s eligible to return next Tuesday at the earliest.
The Red Sox also placed David Ross on the seven-day concussion list. This marks Ross’ second stint on the concussion DL this season.
Catcher Ryan Lavarnway and reliever Alex Wilson have been recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.
End 2nd, Red Sox 1-0: Daniel Nava is getting a rare start at first base in this one. While his glove hasn’t been tested yet, his bat is doing some talking.
Nava drove his 10th home run of the season into the Boston bullpen in right-center field in the second inning. Nava went 0-for-2 but walked twice in Game 1 of the doubleheader.
Nava’s blast was Boston’s first hit of the ballgame. It was also the Red Sox’ only hit of the second inning, as Jake Odorizzi retired David Ortiz, Jonny Gomes and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Welcome to the majors, Wil Myers.
Myers played in the first game of the doubleheader, but he was hitless in four at-bats. He singled in his first at-bat of Game 2.
Myers dropped an 0-1 changeup in front of Jonny Gomes in left field. That came with one out in the inning, and Doubront settled back down to retire the next two hitters.
Doubront finished off the Rays in the second inning by striking out Jose Lobaton. Doubront went with a fastball to catch Lobaton looking.
End 1st, 0-0: Jake Odorizzi breezed through the first inning.
Odorizzi retired Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia in order.
Ellsbury grounded out, and Victorino and Pedroia both flied out.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Desmond Jennings didn’t wait around very long to get Tampa’s offense going.
Jennings singled into left field on the first pitch of the game. Felix Doubront bounced back, though.
Doubront worked around the leadoff single to retire the next three hitters — Sean Rodriguez, Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria. Doubront did deliver a wild pitch with Longoria batting, but the left-hander didn’t let it hurt him.
Rodriguez and Zobrist each flied out. Longoria struck out swinging to end the inning.
8:07 p.m.: Felix Doubront’s first pitch is grounded into left field. We’re underway in Game 2.
8:05 p.m.: Notre Dame football coach and Assumption College alum Brian Kelly threw out the first pitch, for all you scoring at home.
8:01 p.m.: Clay Buchholz, as expected, threw between games, and he ended up throwing a bullpen session off a mound. That’s encouraging.
7:52 p.m.: Game 1 of the doubleheader just finished up, and Game 2 will be starting up shortly. The first pitch is set for 8:05 p.m. ET.
Alfredo Aceves pitched five innings to earn the win in Game 1, which took a while because of a lengthy rain delay in the fifth inning. David Ortiz had two hits and drove in three of Boston’s five runs. Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-for-5 and finished a home run shy of the cycle, while Shane Victorino added two hits, including a triple.
Click here to read the Game 1 live blog >>
Let’s take a look at the Game 2 lineups.
Red Sox (43-29)
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Shane Victorino, RF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Daniel Nava, 1B
Jonny Gomes, LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
Stephen Drew, SS
Jose Iglesias, 3B
Felix Doubront, LHP (4-3, 4.91 ERA)
Rays (36-34)
Desmond Jennings, CF
Sean Rodriguez, 1B
Ben Zobrist, 2B
Evan Longoria, 3B
Yunel Escobar, SS
Wil Myers, RF
Luke Scott, DH
Jose Lobaton, C
Kelly Johnson, LF
Jake Odorizzi, RHP (0-0, 8.03 ERA)
