Sox 7, Tampa Bay 1
WP: Wakefield (12-7)
LP: Hammel (1-1)
HRs: BOS-Youk (10)
SUMMARY
Rays starter Jason Hammel held the Sox to one hit through five innings, but after walking a pair in the 6th, reliever Juan Salas came in and immediately allowed a 3-run blast to Youk, and when Boston tacked on four in the 8th, a tight game turned into a rout.
#1 STUNNER Youk 1-5, R, 3RBI, HR
After hitting two line drives that were caught in his first two at bats, Youk greeted Salas with a shot that only the fans could catch, preferably one of the many members of RSN in attendance.
PAN's FAUN Shawn Camp 2/3IP, 4H, 3ER
Sure the shot off Salas blew the lead for the Rays, but Camp's horrendous appearance took what could have been a winnable game and made it a laffer.
RECAP
Tim Wakefield is a very decisive man.
In 21 starts this season, the knuckleballer has recorded a decision in every single one of them, and by recording his 12th victory tonight Wake climbed into a tie for second place in the majors in victories, alongside such Cy Young contenders as Dan Haren, John Lackey, and teammate Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Not bad for a 40-year-old veteran of 500 career games and possessor of just one quality major league pitch.
But for the first half of the game tonight it looked like that decision streak was going to continue with a loss, because despite Wake (6IP, 6H, 1ER, 3BB, 7K) allowing just one run in six innings, the Sox were having a hard time figuring out young Tampa Bay starter Jason Hammel.
Thank Christ for the Rays bullpen.
Hammel, a 24-year-old righty who has made 20 appearances in his brief career but just one other start, Saturday in the Bronx, befuddled the blazing Bostons batters with a variety of pitches for five straight innings tonight.
The only blemishes against him were a shift-busting single to right by Big Papi with one out in the fourth inning, Boston's first base runner of the night, and a walks to Cora and Lugo with one out in the sixth inning, an inning the Rays staff didn't even think the reliever-turned-starter was going to reach anyway.
By that time Wake had already weathered a couple of brief Tampa Bay storms, surrendering only one run after the Rays put four consecutive batters on after two were out in the second, and working around baserunners he allowed in the 1st, 3rd and 4th frames.
Then after Hammel tired and gave up those two freebies to start the sixth came the moment that all those Nation members that packed the Trop had been waiting for: the time that the Sox batters woke up and turned the game around.
Keep in mind like I mentioned in my preview, Tampa Bay has one of the worst bullpens in modern history. I have no facts to back that up, but I live here, I see & hear things, and it's an inescapable fact for those who follow the team.
Enter Juan Salas.
Up intil now the 28-year-old Dominican's claim to fame was that he is one of the select few who have served a 50-game suspension from MLB for testing positive for a banned substance (ahem, 'roids), but nevertheless the needy Rays still welcomed him to their putrid pen with open arms when he was reinstated on Monday.
Five days later he entered this game in relief of Hammel, who had outdone himself with his performance against one of the hottest offenses in the league, and Salas finally became well-known for something he did on the field: he allowed a three-run home run to Kevin Youkilis four pitches after entering the game, a blow the Rays would not recover from.
For good measure he followed that disaster by surrendering a double to Manny (2-4, R) and a walk to J.D. Drew, although he did fan Papi, and it took old friend Casey Fossum, who just returned from paternity leave, to end the inning by getting Coco to line out to right on a nice catch by Delmon Young.
With the game now swung in Boston's favor, Wake could relax and he pitched one more inning before giving way to Manny D. in the seventh.
After Delcarmen set the Rays down in order on 7 pitches in the top of the seventh, Boston teed off on Tampa Bay's Shawn Camp, who came on to relieve Fossum after he walked Papi (1-4, R, BB, 2K) with one out in the eighth.
Two pitches after arriving Camp allowed a single to Manny to put runners on 1st & 3rd, then four pitches later J.D. Drew singled to right to score Ortiz.
Camp did get Lowell to pop out to shallow center, but then Coco sliced an opposite field double to left that Carl Crawford could not come up with which plated Manny and Drew, and on the very next pitch Mirabelli lined a single to right to score Crisp from second, and just like that the Rays pen had made mincemeat out of a close contest once again.
Delcarmen pitched around a leadoff single to BJ Upton in the eigth and then Kyle Snyder brushed off a leadoff walk to potential future teammate Ty Wigginton in the 9th to set the Rays down 1-2-3, and the decision streak continues for the man who continues to defy time and psychics.
Good thing he doesn't have THAT pen working behind him or he'd never get a decision.
Or a win.
NOTES
- Wake is now an incredible 17-2 vs. Tampa Bay in his career and a perfect 8-0 at the Trop.
- On top of Young's inning-saving catch to end the sixth, Upton made a nice running grab of a Lugo drive to the warning track in center to lead off the fourth
- Both teams compiled seven hits after TB held a 6-1 advantage in that department through the first five innings
- While only only Sox hitter, Manny, had multiple hits, three Rays (Iwamura, Upton, Navarro) accounted for six of their seven knocks with two each
- The Sox caught a break when a single by Iwamura nailed Navarro, who had also singled, in the side as he was breaking for second base to end the fourth
- Lugo went 0-4 to snap his career-best 15 game hitting streak; he raised his average from .189 to .225 during that time
- Papi extended his streak to 12 games with his single that scooted by from the shifted infield; he also hustled from first to third on Manny's single in the seventh despite his gimpy knees
- Cora (0-3) played in place of Dustin Pedroia, and Youk got the start in the two-hole
"I like pitching here. I like pitching inside. The ball seems to move a lot more in a dome."--Wake
"I was locked in. Sometimes the body doesn't catch up."--Hammel on his tiring in the sixth
RECORD: 63-40
AL EAST: Up 8 on NYY
STREAK: W-2
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Sat @ TB 705
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