July 28, 2007
...
With what was left of the crowd of 36,048 on its feet, Brian Stokes
had just issued a ball, ball four, to be exact, to Julio Lugo. The
go-ahead run scored. The roar was astounding. Something out of Fenway
Park that seemed, in so many ways, quite odd in a domed stadium with
fake grass. Yet few in the crowd, quite clearly, had any allegiance
to the Devil Rays.
Only the Red
Sox fans were left as the game rumbled through the 12th inning, the Devil Rays'
bullpen stumbling finally after three straight innings of zeroes after Jonny
Gomes tied the score with a two-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon in the bottom of
the ninth. And though Stokes' two-out walk to Lugo wouldn't be the end of the
damage, as the Sox scored five more runs, it would be the first crack in what
became a 12-6, 12-inning win for the Sox. That sent the Devil Rays to their
eighth straight loss and the Red Sox, coupled with a loss by the Yankees, to a
nine-game lead in the American League East.
Kevin
Youkilis followed Lugo with a bases-clearing double off Jae Kuk Ryu, and Manny
Ramirez added a two-run double. The outburst saved Papelbon and made a winner
out of Kyle Snyder (2-2), who pitched two innings of one-hit relief. With the
win, the Sox improved to 61-1 when leading after eight innings. After allowing a
single to Delmon Young to lead off the ninth, Papelbon threw a split-fingered
fastball to Gomes that caught far too much of the plate before catching the
left-field seats. Papelbon, who was not available to talk to the media after the
game, had converted 15 straight save chances. But, once the game ended, that
mistake was a distant memory in a game that lasted 4 hours 38 minutes.
The Sox got
one man on in the 10th and two on in the 11th, but failed to score. They did,
however, knock out Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon, who was tossed for arguing
after Youkilis walked in the 11th on a checked swing. Though the Devil Rays got
two on in the 10th, including Akinori Iwamura on second with no outs, they were
unable to get a run. That was due to Snyder. Once Papelbon closed the ninth,
Snyder came in for the 10th and 11th
All this
left Jon Lester's second outing of the season a footnote. (So, too, did it leave
two impressive catches almost out of mind, a fourth-inning grab by Ramirez and a
12th-inning snag by J.D. Drew.) Lester built on his last outing, going 6 2/3
innings. He gave up solo home runs to Gomes and Josh Paul in the seventh, which
closed the Sox' lead to 5-4. Paul's first home run of the year knocked out
Lester.
Prior to the
seventh, the Devil Rays scored in the fourth and sixth on sacrifice flies (Young
and Carlos Pena). The Sox scored two in the second inning on Jason Varitek's
single and Lugo's first bases-loaded walk. They tacked on another in the third
(Drew RBI single) and two more in the seventh (single by David Ortiz, sacrifice
fly by Ramirez).
After the
hosts cut the lead to 5-4, Lowell led off the eighth with a double and came
around to score, setting the stage for Papelbon and a win that came three
innings later than hoped. That leaves the Sox with a chance for a sweep today,
in a game that will feature a pair of depleted bullpens, after the Sox used five
relievers and the Devil Rays six.
Matt Clement
threw 38 pitches yesterday in a bullpen session watched by pitching coach John
Farrell. Clement has been working in Fort Myers, Fla., on his rehab, and should
be able to throw sliders off flat ground as soon as early next week. Brendan
Donnelly continues to throw, though without any serious signs of progress. He
had a "so-so" day when he threw Friday, according to Francona.
