May 30: Rays (23-32) 2, Red Sox (25-29) 3 – F/10
The struggling Tampa Bays couldn’t put together enough offense to help starter David Price as the Boston Red Sox plated a run in the seventh and the 10th to take down their AL East foes. A.J. Pierzynski’s triple in the 10th ended things.
Tampa looked good early as it scored its first run of the game just two batters in against starter Brandon Workman. David DeJesus started the game with a double, and advanced to third on a fielding error by right fielder Grady Sizemore. Ben Zobrist delivered the run-scoring ground out three pitches later.
Things were heated on both sides as pitchers retaliated on multiple occasions with hit batters. Neither pitcher was tossed in the early going.
The Rays eventually doubled their lead to two in the fifth on a DeJesus RBI single to right. He was first-pitch swinging on a changeup against Workman.
The Red Sox finally got on the board against Price in the fifth as David Ortiz singled home Xander Bogaerts on a sharp line drive to left with two outs in the frame. After taking to fastballs for strikes to start the at-bat, Ortiz connected on the third one he saw from the crafty lefty.
The game continued to escalade, as Workman and third-base coach Brian Butterfield became the third and fourth Red Sox members to be ejected in the game in the top of the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, Boston finally knotted things back up as Bogaerts tied things on an RBI double to left field. Price tried to double up on changeups and couldn’t get the second one past Bogaerts.
Both teams stayed locked at two after nine innings, so the squads headed to extras.
Pierzynski took things into his own hands from there. After a Jonny Gomes hit-by-pitch, the veteran Pierzynski sent his first triple of the year into right field for the game-winner.
Price got the no decision after a solid seven innings, two runs and six strikeouts on his line.
Workman went 5.1, giving up two runs, four hits and striking out four.
The Red Sox bullpen did its part as five relievers totaled 4.2 hit-less innings. Edward Mujica’s walk to Wil Myers in the 10th was the only blemish.
Important things to note: The Red Sox had to play nearly the entire game without the services of their manager John Farrell. Farrell was ejected from the game in the bottom of the first after arguing with home-plate umpire Dan Bellino. In the third, Boston bench coach Torey Lovullo was ejected as well – this time by third-base umpire Jeff Kellogg. Workman and Butterfield became the third and fourth members of the team to be ejected by the sixth frame.
