Tampa Bay Rays complete sweep of Red Sox
In a series crucial to the standings of the AL East play-off hunt, the Tampa Bay Rays won again last night to sweep their three-game home-stand against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday. After winning 6-5 on Monday and 3-2 on Tuesday, they won another close game, overcoming a late rally to down the Red Sox 6-4.
Rays starter David Price became the first person in the AL to win 12 games with his performance. He was the star of the game, pitching 7 2/3 innings and letting in just two runs and eight hits. He threw 10 strikeouts as well and kept his control, walking just one batter. His relief struggled a little bit, with Grant Balfour and Randy Choate combining to get two outs while letting in two runs and giving the Red Sox hope. But Matt Garza shut the door for the last two outs and picked up his first save of the year.
Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield continued a disappointing season with his performance, as he let in all six of his team’s runs in 5 2/3 innings. The 3-7 Wakefield has just one win in his last five starts, going 1-3 since June 8th. He struggled with control, walking six batters. The only bright side was the relief as the four pitchers the Mets brought in did quite well, allowing just one hit over seven outs and no runs.
Scoring summary
Evan Longoria homered to start the scoring in the fourth, and Carlos Pena managed to score later in the innings as B.J Upton reached first on a throwing error. In the fifth the Rays added three more runs, with Longoria, Kelly Shoppach and Ben Zobrist all scoring in that innings.
Boston came back in the sixth with one run off a David Ortiz double to make it 5-1, but Zobrist scored in the eighth to make it 6-1. Mike Cameron hit a solo shot in the seventh to make it 6-2. Finally in the ninth it seemed as though the Red Sox were poised to make a comeback, with Cameron scoring a runner off his sacrifice fly, and J.D Drew scoring as well. But that was all they’d get.
A huge sweep
It was an important sweep for the Rays, a point emphasized by Joe Maddon after the match.
“They’re wounded right now and you really do want to be able to take advantage of that moment, obviously. From their perspective, to do that to us at this time would have bolstered them,” said Maddon.
When asked how big the sweep was over a rival, starter Price was even more emphatic about it.
“Huge,” Price said. “Obviously a sweep against anybody is big, but when it comes against a rival, it’s even bigger. We played good baseball for three days and we got rewarded for it.”
But in spite of the loss, Red Sox manager Terry Francona promised his team would keep battling through and enjoy themselves.
“This was a disappointing three days as far as getting wins. We ask our guys to try their best, do their best and that’s exactly what they’re doing. We’ll keep battling,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “This is actually kind of a fun group right now. It’s a good group to work with. We’ll figure it out.”
Devil Rays drive on
With the win, the Rays are just two games behind the New York Yankees, who have also been surging as of late. The Boston Red Sox on the other hand drop down to a full 4.5 games behind the Yankees and 2.5 behind the Rays.
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