Tampa Bay Rays shorten their gap for wild card berth as they trample Boston Red Sox 9-1
The Tampa Bay Rays shortened their distance from the wild card berth on Sunday, September 11, when they trampled on the Boston Red Sox 9-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. The win came from a strong performance put out by James Shields and the rest
of the hitting line up of the Rays’ roster.
Shields pitched 8.1 innings, picking up five strike-outs, seven hits and just one run. His season wins tally went up to 15 and his ERA dropped to 2.70.
John Lester, who featured for the Red Sox on the mound, did not have the kind of day he and manager Terry Francona were hoping for. The ace gave up four runs off eight hits and he lasted just four innings before Michael Bowden replaced him from the bullpen.
"I didn't have anything today," Lester said. "It's just one of those days. I had no command of one pitch. I didn't have a pitch that could get me back in the count. I picked the wrong time to have one of these."
The Rays kicked off their scoring swings in the bottom of the first. Desmond Jennings and B. J. Upton were the men to deliver the opener as Ben Zobrist smashed a double RBI single through left-field. Sean Rodriguez later came in to the inning to hit a sacrifice
fly that got Evan Longoria home from third base.
With the score 3-0, Boston responded with Marco Scutaro. The shortstop smashed a solo homer in the third to make it 1-3.
Rodriguez however had different plans as he pushed a double through left-field, allowing Johnny Damon to run back to the dugout with a 4-1 score line.
With a fighting chance on the cards, Boston tried to pull out of the rut. However, Shields’ dominance at the mound was more than enough to keep the visitors quiet.
The Rays were on fire and it was B. J. Upton who displayed the raw power that has been untapped in the last few days. Casey Kotchman kicked off the bottom of the fifth with a walk against Bowden. Jose Lobaton’s single then allowed Kotchman to run for third
base. The first baseman was putting Bowden under pressure and the Boston management knew it.
Bowden managed to avail a second out in the inning when he struck Brandon Guyer out but that was the only notable feat he accomplished. The hurler delivered a wild pitch to Desmond Jennings and Lobaton ran to second. Jennings got a walk and the bases were
loaded, as Matt Albers was sent in to replace Bowden.
The move made no difference as Upton smashed a grand slam to left-field. The score immediately went up by four runs and the Rays found themselves on an 8-1 score line.
Boston was unable to respond and later in the bottom of the seventh, things got worse. Zobrist ground out in a play but Upton managed to score as second baseman Dustin Pedroia made a throwing error. The game ended eventually and the score line read 9-1 in
favour of the Rays.
The Red Sox are now 1-6 in their last seven games and Francona is trying to get his squad back to winning ways. The club is 3.5 wins ahead of the Rays at the wild card berth position. They may very well lose that advantage if Tampa Bay beats them straight
in the upcoming series at Fenway Park.
"We've just got to play better," Pedroia said. "I'm not really concerned. If we play good, we're going to win. That's basically it. We're a pretty [darn] good team. We've just hit a tough patch, but we'll get a day off, rest up and go home and play well."
The Rays are ecstatic and their mentality looks strong. They can sweep another series against the Red Sox, away from home. Doing so would put them in a position to qualify for the post season.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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