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July 29, 2007
By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer
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.
“There’s no sting,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “We set out to win and we did. It wasn’t easy. The final score won’t indicate the struggles, but that a good win.”
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.
“The main thing is we won,” said Lester. “You have those outings some times and we know Pappy will bounce right back. He’s going to get them either tomorrow or the next day. He’ll be right back to where he needs to be and get that next save. I’m not worried about him and it was a good victory for the team.”
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.
Despite Papelbon’s miscue, Francona thought his closer was solid.
“Actually, he was great,” said the manager. “He just threw one pitch, a split that didn’t split. He made one bad pitch and sometimes when you’re in that role that happens. He was real good.”
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 the top of the 12th. 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.
“Our main focus in the bullpen, obviously, is to pick everyone up,” said Red Sox reliever Kyle Snyder, who earned the win. “We’ve got the best closer in baseball right now in my opinion and everyone’s opinion on this team. Baseball is a funny game. [A save] is not necessarily a sure thing, so you always have to keep it turned on down there [in the bullpen] no matter what happens. There are a lot of emotional swings down there for guys like myself throughout the course of the game. As soon as [blown save] happened, I thought there was a good chance I would get the ball in the 10th and I managed to put up two zeros. Obviously our offensive exploded and we came back and got the win.”
The reason Snyder worked last night was because Mike Timlin’s shoulder was a little sore, according to Francona. It’s nothing serious, and the team knew before the game the veteran reliever would not be available.
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 12:36 AM | Permalink
