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FINAL: Boston 12, Tampa Bay 6 (12 innings)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Jonathan Papelbon is in the baseball business to save the Boston Red Sox.

Last night the Boston Red Sox saved Jonathan Papelbon.

After suffering only his second blown save of the season, Papelbon had to wait until the 12th inning to see if his mates could bail in out, which they did in a dramatic and entertaining 12-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, Julio Lugo has a keen eye at the plate.

He walked twice with the bases loaded, including his seventh at-bat of the game to push across the eventual game-winning run with two outs in Boston’s 12-inning.

The Sox’ Kevin Youkilis provided some much-needed insurance with a three-run double in the third extra frame of the night before Manny Ramirez added a two-run double en route to the victory.

The Devil Rays’ Jonny Gomes smacked a pair of home runs last night, including a two-run shot off Papelbon in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the second game of this three-game set at 6-6 to force extra innings.

The blown save for Papelbon, only his second of the season, squashed any chance of teammate, friend and starter Jon Lester to earn his second consecutive victory since returning to the majors last Monday in Cleveland after successfully battling cancer in the offseason.

Papelbon suffered his first blown save of the season on May 1 against Oakland, and until last night the hard-throwing right-hander converted 15 straight save opportunities.

Entering last night’s game Boston was 60-1 when leading after the eighth inning this season.

-- Joe McDonald

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 10:37 PM | Permalink

Clippers 6, PawSox 2

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The PawSox continued a disturbing trend that has wreaked havoc on them the entire season -- lack of offensive punch.

Pawtucket, which entered the game 12th in the International League in runs scored, managed just five hits in a 6-2 loss to the Columbus Clippers Saturday night at Cooper Stadium.

PawSox manager Ron Johnson was prophetic prior to the game when assessing where his club was at through 103 games.

"When we score some runs, we have the potential," said the third-year kipper. "We've had some stretches where we've had tough times scoring. You don't want to put it on anybody (in particular), it's just reality.

"Our pitching is respectable, but we've battled to keep our heads above water offensively. That's what it is. If we go out and put some runs on the board, we've got a good chance to win."

They had chances against Clipper starter Josh Hall (1-0), making his season debut. Hall allowed the PawSox to get the leadoff batter aboard in four of the first five innings, but only had a single tally to show for it.

Meanwhile, right-handed starter David Pauley (6-4) put up his second consecutive quality start and continued to put up impressive numbers against Columbus in 2007. He allowed a seventh-inning earned run, his first in 12 1/3 innings against the Clippers, but was victimized by three errors. Pauley allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out four in six-plus innings.

Hall, who was recalled from double-A Harrisburg on Thursday, gave up just three hits and three walks in his five innings of work, fanning four in just his second start of the campaign.

It was the seventh consecutive game that Pawtucket has scored less than four runs after a stretch that saw the PawSox score five or more times in eight straight games.
Veteran infielder Joe McEwing had two of the hits for Pawtucket, which got the leadoff man aboard in six innings.

Four Columbus hitters -- Bernie Castro, Kory Casto, Larry Broadway and Abraham Nunez -- each had two hits to pace the 11-hit Clipper attack.

Down by three in the eighth, the PawSox tried to rally off Clipper reliever Winston Abreu. David Murphy led off with a single and Michael Tucker forced a 10-pitch walk, but Pawtucket, who was 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, failed to produce a timely hit.

Pauley should have been out of the second inning without any damage, but second baseman Bobby Scales booted an easy grounder off the bat of Melvin Dorta with two out, allowing Lombard, who doubled with one down, to score from third. The right-hander escaped further damage when Dorta was gunned down trying to steal second.
PawSox catcher George Kottaras led off the third with a walk and McEwing slapped a full-count fastball over the head of center fielder Brandon Watson for an RBI double that tied the game. Hall wiggled out of the predicament when he induced three straight grounders to Broadway at first.

Pauley shot himself in the foot in the third. With one out, he threw a bunted ball by Castro down the right-field line, with Castro scooting all the way to third base. After a strikeout, Pauley's full-count pitch to Michael Restovich went between the wickets of Kottaras, allowing Castro to score. Two batters later, Nunez slapped a ball past Brandon Moss at first, scoring Restovich to put the Clippers up 3-1.

Pawtucket cut the gap to one in the seventh as Brady Clark, signed by parent club Boston on Thursday, lifted a sacrifice fly that enabled Jeff Bailey to score. However, Columbus reliever Hector Carrasco induced another fly ball to end the threat.
The Clippers put two more on the board in their half of the frame as Broadway, who had two hits, had a one-out, RBI single off the glove of Lincoln Holdzkom, who was called up from double-A Portland on Friday.

Lombard's ground out then scored Casto, who had greeted the rookie right-hander with a swinging bunt single. Casto then slapped a two-out, RBI hit in the eighth to end the scoring.

Pineiro watch

Right-hander Joel Pineiro, who was designated for assignment by Boston on July 22, will get his second start for the PawSox tonight.

In his first outing, he allowed just a walk in three innings of work.

Johnson expects him to up his pitch count to around 80 to 85, which will hopefully get Pineiro around four to five innings of work.

"With a guy like that, we just see how he goes as he goes along. The veteran guys like that will pretty much let you know." In 31 relief appearances with the big club this season, he is 1-1 with a 5.03 earned-run average.

-- DONN WALDEN
Special to the Journal

Posted by Chris Venditto  at 10:30 PM to PawSox | Permalink

Pedroia sore

For the second consecutive game, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is out of the lineup due to sore ribs, which he injured earlier in the week when diving for a ball in Cleveland. He said it’s nothing serious and is expected to be back in the lineup today. Francona felt it best to give the rookie another day to rest for precautionary reasons.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 7:13 PM | Permalink

Tampa Bay Devil Rays like Rhode Islanders

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays just acquired Warwick native Dan Wheeler from the Houston Astros in exchange for infielder Ty Wigginton. Wheeler, a former Pilgrim High School standout, will join Cumberland native Rocco Baldelli on Tampa's roster.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 6:55 PM | Permalink

Tonight's lineups from Tampa

BOSTON
Julio Lugo, 6
Kevin Youkilis, 3
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, 7
J.D. Drew, 9
Mike Lowell, 5
Jason Varitek, 2
Coco Crisp, 8
Alex Cora, 4
Jon Lester, SP

TAMPA BAY
Akinori Iwamura, 5
Brendan Harris, 6
B.J. Upton, 8
Carlos Pena, 3
Delmon Young, 9
Ty Wigginton, DH
Jonny Gomes, 7
Josh Wilson, 4
Josh Paul, 2
James Shields, SP

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 5:21 PM | Permalink

Sox Streakers for July 28

Hot Streaks
-Red Sox relievers have pitched 12.1 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run, and have converted 11 consecutive saves.
-David Ortiz has a 12-game hitting streak, during which he is 17 for 48 (.354).
-Manny Ramirez is 11 for 20 (.550) with three home runs over the last six games.
-Manny Delcarmen has allowed one run in his last 14.1 innings pitched, and has allowed just one of 13 inherited runners to score.
-For Tampa Bay: B.J. Upton is 22 for 51 (.431) in July,

Cold Streaks
-J.D. Drew is 5 for his last 33 (.152)
-Alex Cora is 1 for his last 12 and 3 for his last 21.
-Julio Lugo is 1 for his last 10.
-For Tampa Bay: James Shields is 2-6 with a 7.26 E.R.A. in his last eight starts. He gave up 10 runs in 3.1 innings in his last start, against the Yankees.
-Tampa Bay has lost seven in a row, while being outscored 71-21, an average score of roughly 10-3.

Red Sox vs. James Shields
-Doug Mirabelli, 1 for 1 (1.000), 1 HR
-David Ortiz, 2 for 5 (.400), 2 HR
-Alex Cora, 1 for 2 (.500)
-Mike Lowell, 1 for 2 (.500)
-Manny Ramirez, 1 for 4 (.250), 1 HR
-Coco Crisp, 1 for 5 (.200)
-Wily Mo Pena, 0 for 2
-Kevin Youkilis, 0 for 4
-Shields is 0-1 with a 6.10 E.R.A. in two career starts against Boston.

Devil Rays vs. Jon Lester
-Lester has never faced Tampa Bay.

More Stuff
-Boston has won seven of its last eight games, batting .380 with runners in scoring position during that stretch.
-The Red Sox are 22-11 against the American League East, including 11-4 on the road.
-All-time series: Boston 102, Tampa Bay 53. Boston is 4-0 so far this year against the Rays.
-The Red Sox have the majors' best E.R.A. for the month of July (3.49).
-The Red Sox have five qualifying hitters (Youkilis, Pedroia, Ortiz, Lowell, Ramirez) with at least a .300 batting average, the most in the American League.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 3:25 PM to Projo Sox Streakers | Permalink