The Boston Red Sox challenged the the Tampa Bay Rays yesterday at Fenway Park with the Red Sox triumphant 8 to 5. It was a thrilling night of baseball that anyone with Red Sox tickets will definitely cherish.
Red Sox pitcher John Lackey (4.46 ERA) got the win, while James Shields (4.76 ERA) took the loss for the Rays. John Lackey went 7 solid innings for the Red Sox, allowed 8 hits, no home runs and one earned run with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. Also pitching for the Red Sox was Hideki Okajima (5.81), Daniel Bard (2.04), Scott Atchison (4.81), and Dustin Richardson (3.86). The Rays’s starter James Shields went 5 innings, allowed 7 hits, one home run and 5 earned runs with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. Dan Wheeler (3.33), Lance Cormier (4.85), and Andy Sonnanstine (3.67) also pitched for the Rays. With the win, Lackey’s record goes to 9-3, while Shields falls to 6-8. Jonathan Papelbon earned the save for the Red Sox, bringing his saves up to 18.
In addition to the 8 runs, the Red Sox managed 10 hits and committed one error. Adrian Beltre led the Red Sox in hitting with 4 hits, followed by Mike Cameron’s one hit. Carl Crawford had the most hits for the Rays (4), followed by Sean Rodriguez (2). Evan Longoria could not get much going at the plate as he left 4 runners on base. The Rays mustered 5 runs, 12 hits and no errors.
Umpiring duties were performed by Brian O’Nora, Phil Cuzzi, Jerry Crawford and Chris Guccione. There were 38,013 Red Sox ticket holders in attendance at Fenway Park.