A TEAM "FIT TO BE TIED"
Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz lead
a slugfest vs Tampa Bay

September 20, 2005 ... The Red Sox pinned a 15-2 beating on the Devil Rays.  By the end of five innings, the Sox led, 13-2. It was all necessary to maintain their half-game lead in the AL East, as the Yankees, behind a Gary Sheffield grand slam, were routing the Orioles just as early.

At the conclusion of five innings, the Sox' Nos. 3-6 hitters, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Nixon, and Varitek, were 15 for 16 with five home runs and a triple. Ortiz had homered twice and singled twice. Ramirez had homered twice and singled twice as well. Nixon, after whiffing in the first, had homered, singled, and tripled, leaving him a double shy of the cycle with half the game to go. Varitek had singled four times, giving him as many hits in five innings as he had in his preceding 13 games. By night's end, those four Sox players would tie a team and American League record for number of players on one team with four hits in a single game. Only five times had that been achieved.

There has been brutal slumps endured by Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon. Varitek was 4 for his last 43 (.093) and 6 for 51 (.118) in September. Nixon, meanwhile, was hitting just .213 (16 for 74) in 23 games since coming off the disabled list Aug. 23.

That allowed Francona to begin resting his regulars beginning in the sixth inning.  Any rest is welcomed, as the Sox played for the 29th consecutive day, an unforgiving stretch of baseball that has taken a very visible toll on players, physically and mentally. By the bottom of the seventh, Roberto Petagine was in left, Adam Hyzdu was in center, Alejandro Machado was at second, and Hanley Ramirez was at shortstop, making his major league debut.

It was David Ortiz who set the tone. With Johnny Damon aboard in the first, Ortiz crushed a first-pitch shot to right field. Manny Ramirez followed with a solo shot crushed 440 feet plus to center field. Though they'd combined for 82 home runs to that point, it was the first time all season that they went back to back. Last year, they tied a major league record by going back to back six times.

 The Sox would send 26 men to the plate between the third and fifth innings, scoring 10 runs. Ortiz, with Edgar Renteria on in the third, blasted a two-run shot over the second catwalk in right center. That marked his ninth multihomer game of the season, one shy of Jimmie Foxx's club record set in 1938. It was his third homer in as many at-bats (including his ninth-inning homer Monday), 10th September home run, and 10th homer this season vs. Tampa Bay, marking the most home runs any Devil Rays opponent has ever hit off them in one season. It was also his seventh homer in his last five road games, giving him a team-record 27 road home runs this year (Ted Williams had held the record since 1957, with 26).

Nixon launched a two-run blast later in the inning, and Ramirez added his two-run homer in the fifth, his third multihomer game of the year and the 42d of his career.

Thus, Curt Schilling became an afterthought. He allowed single runs in the first and third innings but held the Devil Rays down after that. However, given the 7-2 lead after three innings, it was difficult to make much of Schilling's day. He allowed a smoked homer to Jorge Cantu in the first, Cantu's 27th homer and 108th RBI (establishing a team record, eclipsing Aubrey Huff's old mark). Cantu then added a sac fly in the third, worth noting because the runner who scored was on second when Cantu lifted a ball to the wall in center. Damon caught the ball up against the wall, and Crawford was thinking two bases immediately. He wound up scoring standing up, as Damon relayed to Renteria to Varitek, but too slowly. Schilling worked seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits while fanning seven and walking one.