GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: AL: TAMPA BAY (45-73) at BOSTON (71-47)

AL: TAMPA BAY at BOSTON

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TAMPA BAY (1) AT BOSTON (2) - HOW THEY SCORED
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TAMPA BAY 4TH: C Crawford doubled to left. B Upton singled to right,
C Crawford to third. C Pena hit sacrifice fly to center, C Crawford scored.
D Young grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, B Upton out at second.
B Harris flied out to center. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 9TH: Al Reyes relieved D Wheeler. M Ramirez struck out looking.
M Lowell homered to left. K Youkilis struck out looking. J Varitek hit a ground
rule double to deep right. C Crisp singled to right, J Varitek scored.
(2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 2.</div>

 

AL: TAMPA BAY at BOSTON

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TAMPA BAY (1) AT BOSTON (2) - EVENT LOG
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Tampa Bay Starting Lineups -- A Iwamura 3B, C Crawford LF, B Upton CF,
C Pena 1B, D Young RF, B Harris 2B, J Gomes DH, J Wilson SS, J Paul C,
S Kazmir LHP.

Boston Starting Lineups -- J Lugo SS, D Pedroia 2B, D Ortiz DH, M Ramirez LF,
M Lowell 3B, K Youkilis 1B, J Varitek C, C Crisp CF, W Pena RF, J Lester LHP.

Umpires -- Fieldin Culbreth (HP), Paul Schrieber (1B), Tim Mcclelland (2B),
Marty Foster (3B).

Gametime Weather: 66 degrees, Partly Cloudy, wind out to left at 10 mph.


TAMPA BAY 1ST: A Iwamura walked. C Crawford struck out swinging. B Upton
struck out looking. C Pena flied out to right. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
TAMPA BAY 0, BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 1ST: J Lugo grounded out to shortstop. D Pedroia doubled to left
center. D Ortiz flied out to center, D Pedroia to third. M Ramirez walked.
M Lowell struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 0, BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 2ND: D Young struck out swinging. B Harris grounded out to
third. J Gomes struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 0,
BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 2ND: K Youkilis struck out swinging. J Varitek walked. C Crisp
struck out swinging. W Pena struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
TAMPA BAY 0, BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 3RD: J Wilson grounded out to first. J Paul lined out to center.
A Iwamura lined out to shortstop. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 0,
BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 3RD: J Lugo flied out to right. D Pedroia flied out to center.
D Ortiz walked. M Ramirez singled to center, D Ortiz to third, M Ramirez thrown
out at second attempting to advance on play. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)
TAMPA BAY 0, BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 4TH: C Crawford doubled to left. B Upton singled to right,
C Crawford to third. C Pena hit sacrifice fly to center, C Crawford scored.
D Young grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, B Upton out at second.
B Harris flied out to center. (1 Run, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 4TH: M Lowell flied out to right. K Youkilis singled to left.
J Varitek struck out swinging. C Crisp struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 5TH: J Gomes lined out to left. J Wilson flied out to center.
J Paul grounded out to shortstop. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1,
BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 5TH: W Pena fouled out to third. J Lugo struck out swinging.
D Pedroia singled to left. D Ortiz grounded out to first. (0 Runs, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 6TH: A Iwamura grounded out to third. C Crawford grounded out to
second. B Upton grounded out to shortstop. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 6TH: M Ramirez flied out to center. M Lowell grounded out to third.
K Youkilis struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1,
BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 7TH: C Pena grounded out to second. D Young grounded out to
pitcher. B Harris flied out to left. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1,
BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 7TH: G Glover relieved S Kazmir. J Varitek walked. C Crisp bunted
into fielder's choice to pitcher, J Varitek out at second. J Drew hit for
W Pena. J Drew grounded into double play, shortstop to first, C Crisp out at
second.(0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 8TH: J Drew in right field. M Delcarmen relieved J Lester.
J Gomes singled to left. J Wilson walked, J Gomes to second. J Paul sacrificed
to third, J Gomes to third, J Wilson to second. A Iwamura flied out to left.
C Crawford intentionally walked. M Timlin relieved M Delcarmen. B Upton struck
out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 8TH: D Wheeler relieved G Glover. J Lugo fouled out to first.
D Pedroia popped out to shortstop. D Ortiz grounded out to first. (0 Runs,
0 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

TAMPA BAY 9TH: E Gagne relieved M Timlin. C Pena struck out looking.
D Young struck out swinging. B Harris doubled to deep right. J Gomes struck out
looking. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 0.

BOSTON 9TH: Al Reyes relieved D Wheeler. M Ramirez struck out looking.
M Lowell homered to left. K Youkilis struck out looking. J Varitek hit a ground
rule double to deep right. C Crisp singled to right, J Varitek scored.
(2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) TAMPA BAY 1, BOSTON 2.</div>

 

Lowell, Crisp lift Red Sox past Deveil Rays

<h3>BOSTON 2, TAMPA BAY 1</h3>BOSTON (Ticker) -- Jon Lester's feel-good homecoming gotrewarded by some ninth-inning magic.


Mike Lowell hit a tying home run and Coco Crisp delivered awalk-off RBI single as the Boston Red Sox rallied to eke out a2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday night.

The Red Sox extended their lead in the American League EastDivision to five games over the New York Yankees, who lost,12-0, to the Baltimore Orioles.


Lester (2-0) was pitching at home for the first time since beingdiagnosed with lymphoma during the 2006 season. He received alengthy ovation before taking the mound and responded with hisbest effort of the season.


The 23-year-old lefthander allowed just one run in two hits inseven innings. He struck out four and walked one while throwing62 of his 97 pitches for strikes.


Lester, meanwhile, was coming off three shaky outings in a row.After winning his first start at Cleveland in his season debuton July 23, Lester had allowed 13 runs and 22 hits in 15innings.


Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir, another 23-year-old lefthander,pitched six scoreless innings for the second straight startagainst the Red Sox. He struck out eight and walked three.

Boston was two outs from defeat when Lowell drilled a pitch fromcloser Al Reyes over the wall in left field.


It was Lowell's 16th blast of the season and his first sinceJuly 22, breaking a 19-game homerless drought. Ironically,Lowell also is a cancer survivor and his dramatic homerprevented Lester from taking the loss.


After Kevin Youkilis struck out, Jason Varitek kept the inningalive with a two-out ground-rule double. Crisp then deliveredthe winning hit, looping a changeup into right field to plateVaritek.


Newly acquired Eric Gagne (3-0), who blew a pair of leads to theBaltimore Orioles over the weekend, picked up the win bystriking out the side in the top of the ninth.


Kazmir faced a pair of early jams but struck out Lowell toescape in the first inning, and was fortunate when Manny Ramirezwas thrown at second base trying for a double with David Ortizon third base in the third.


The Devils Rays fell to 7-36 all-time at Fenway - the lowestwinning percentage of any team at any park in the majors - butwent ahead in the fourth inning against Lester.


Carl Crawford, who broke up Tim Wakefield's no-hit bid with aleadoff single in the seventh inning Monday night, againprovided the impetus by opening the fourth with a double.

B.J. Upton singled to put runners at the corners and Carlos Penaplated Crawford with a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

 

Lowell, Crisp lift Red Sox past Deveil Rays

<h3>BOSTON 2, TAMPA BAY 1</h3>BOSTON (Ticker) -- Jon Lester's feel-good homecoming gotrewarded by some ninth-inning magic.


Mike Lowell hit a tying home run and Coco Crisp delivered awalk-off RBI single as the Boston Red Sox rallied to eke out a2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday night.

The Red Sox extended their lead in the American League EastDivision to five games over the New York Yankees, who lost,12-0, to the Baltimore Orioles.


Lester (2-0) was pitching at home for the first time since beingdiagnosed with lymphoma during the 2006 season. He received alengthy standing ovation before taking the mound and respondedwith his best effort of the season.


"Preparation-wise, it felt like any other day coming in andpitching, I just try to take that mind-set and not let it affectme at all," Lester said. "Walking in from the bullpen waspretty exciting, lot of emotions, but other than that it wasfairly normal."


The 23-year-old lefthander allowed just one run in two hits inseven innings. He struck out four and walked one while throwing62 of his 97 pitches for strikes.


"He pitched like he can pitch, he was aggressive with hisfastball, commanded it," Boston manager Terry Francona said."From the first pitch in the game he really threw three balls,he was aggressive, down, with a good angle on his fastball andeven his demeanor on the mound looked different."


Lester was coming off three shaky outings in a row. Afterwinning his first start at Cleveland in his season debut on July23, Lester had allowed 13 runs and 22 hits in 15 innings.

"The approach Tek (catcher Jason Varitek) and I tried to takeinto the game was first-pitch strike and just attack, threw alot of changeups tonight, which we really didn't go over,"Lester said.


Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir, also a 23-year-old lefthander, pitchedsix scoreless innings for the second straight start against theRed Sox. He struck out eight and walked three.


"It was lined up (for) Kaz after 95 pitches. I did not want himto go out there and get stuck at 110-115," Devil Rays managerJoe Maddon said.


Boston was two outs from defeat when Lowell drilled a pitch fromcloser Al Reyes over everything in left field.


"You know Reyes is a guy who is successful on location and I wasjust trying to get something out over the plate," Lowell said."I actually (was) in good hitter's count in three at-bats todayand you really want to really get something that you can drive.

"I was definitely looking for something that I could extend myarms and fortunately, I hit it hard and even better it went overthe wall."


It was Lowell's 16th blast of the season and his first sinceJuly 22, breaking a 19-game homerless drought. Ironically,Lowell also is a cancer survivor and his dramatic homerprevented Lester from taking the loss.


"I think his first outing I was really, really rooting for himand I said it before, they could have hit four home runs in thatfirst inning and it still would have been a success," Lowellsaid. "But he pitched well that day against a great lineup andhe pitched great game today and we needed it.


"When you are going up against a guy like Kazmir, you have to doyour end because he is tough and he was tough today."

After Kevin Youkilis struck out, Varitek kept the inning alivewith a two-out ground-rule double. Crisp then delivered thewinning hit, looping a changeup into right field to plateVaritek, who easily beat the throw from Delmon Young.

"Jason has a great at-bat and I think from the dugout, we alldidn't think it was going out but we're blowing on it andpushing it and hoping it would go," Francona said. "And thenCoco has a real good at-bat and stays on it enough and thenyou're just hoping that the ball short-hops like it did becausehe has a good arm out there."


Newly acquired Eric Gagne (3-0), who blew a pair of leads to theBaltimore Orioles over the weekend, picked up the win bystriking out the side in the top of the ninth.


"It is good, it's awesome, it feels good to get people out,"Gagne said. "I gave up a double but I made some great pitchesand you have to keep going and build from there."


Kazmir faced a pair of early jams but struck out Lowell toescape in the first inning, and was fortunate when Manny Ramirezwas thrown at second base trying for a double with David Ortizon third base in the third.


The Devils Rays fell to 7-36 all-time at Fenway - the lowestwinning percentage of any team at any park in the majors - butwent ahead in the fourth inning against Lester.


Carl Crawford, who broke up Tim Wakefield's no-hit bid with aleadoff single in the seventh inning Monday night, againprovided the impetus by opening the fourth with a double.

B.J. Upton singled to put runners at the corners and Carlos Penaplated Crawford with a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

"We just stopped hitting, we stopped hitting in Texas and wehaven't hit here yet," Maddon said. "We came out of a toughseries in Detroit and the last two series we haven't beenhitting."