July 4, 2007
...
After Coco Crisp opened the bottom of the first inning with a triple
to right field, Alex Cora, one of four bench players to start for the
Red Sox, bunted an Edwin Jackson pitch toward first base. And, though
Cora didn't reach safely, Crisp made it home, launching a 7-5 win
over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays that left the Sox looking for the
sweep. Between Cora's squeeze, Jacoby Ellsbury's opposite-field RBI
double, and Doug Mirabelli's two-run single, four of the seven Sox
RBIs were produced by bench players, with J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell
(two-run home run into the third row of the Monster seats in the
fifth) delivering the other three. It was a good sign for a lineup
that had suffered through weeks of low-scoring games, its stars mired
in slumps or power outages, leaving too many men on base
Ellsbury's
and Mirabelli's hits qualified, bumping the score to 4-1 in the fourth after
singles by David Ortiz and Lowell. Ellsbury's RBI was his first in the big
leagues, and Mirabelli's single broke an 0-for-10 slump. The Sox added three in
the fifth for a 7-1 lead, giving them the breathing room they needed.
A blowout
turned into a close game when Javier Lopez couldn't pick up starter Tim
Wakefield. Inheriting a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh, Lopez allowed
a double to Carl Crawford that scored two, followed by a single to Carlos Pena
that also scored two. Lopez struck out the only right-handed batter he faced,
with the two lefties getting hits. Suddenly, the lead was trimmed to 7-5. But
Manny Delcarmen got pinch hitter Jonny Gomes looking at a fastball to end the
inning.
Delcarmen's
increased velocity and better location put him in perfect position to earn a
more permanent stay in his hometown, even as two fellow right-handed pitchers
(Brendan Donnelly, Joel Pineiro) become ready to come off the disabled list. So,
despite that anomaly in the seventh inning, the Red Sox pitched well and scored
seven runs without regulars Manny Ramirez, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and
Jason Varitek.
Jonathan
Papelbon, who notched his 20th save in yesterday's 7-5 win over Tampa Bay, said
he's added a cut fastball to his repertoire. He used it to strike out Brendan
Harris to end the game. Papelbon became the first Red Sox pitcher to tally two
straight 20-save seasons since Derek Lowe in 1999 and 2000. He's the second
player in Red Sox history to do it in his first two major league seasons. Dick
Radatz did it in 1962-63.
J.D. Drew
made a nice play to cut off a drive toward the line in right field off the bat
of Carl Crawford in the third inning. Instead of getting a sure double and maybe
a triple, the speedy Crawford was limited to a single. Confusion reigned when
one of the bat boys ran out to the Tampa Bay bullpen in the top of the eighth
inning. It soon became apparent that the bullpen phone wasn't working.
Kevin
Youkilis was rested because of his sore quadriceps. Mike Lowell's home run, his
13th, tied him for tops on the team with Ortiz. It was just the team's fourth
home run in its last 12 games
