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Infield hit by Ellsbury helps Red Sox edge Blue Jays

Sep 14, 2008 - 3:47 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Boston Red Sox rookies Jed Lowrie and Jacoby Ellsbury were the answer to Toronto Blue Jays rookie Travis Snider on Sunday.

Lowrie singled home the tying run and scored the go-ahead run on Ellsbury's infield single in eighth inning as the Red Sox came from behind to beat the Blue Jays, 7-5, and earn a split of their day-night doubleheader at Fenway Park.

The split allowed Boston (87-61) keep a 6 1/2 game lead on the third-place Blue Jays (80-69) in the American League wild card race while maintaining a 5 1/2 game cushion on second-place Minnesota (81-66). The Red Sox also pulled to within two games of the Tampa Bay Rays (88-58) in the AL East.

The Red Sox lowered their magic number to 10 for clinching a playoff spot.

"Obviously, we know what's going on but I don't think there's any more urgency," Ellsbury said. "Every game we come out, we want to win."

Boston chipped away with a single runs in the sixth and seventh before recapturing the lead with a three-run eighth.

Jason Bay doubled off Scott Downs (0-3) and Jed Lowrie singled him home to make it 5-5.

"I'm just trying to get the guy over right there, so I'm trying to stay inside the ball," Lowrie said. "I got a pitch I was able to stay inside of, hit a line drive and drove the guy in."

"Jed's been unbelievable since I've been here," Bay said. "Just constant good at-bats. He has just a very lunch-pail approach. Jacoby's very dynamic. They're both a huge part of the offense and defense right now and they're playing like it."

After moving up on a sacrifice and a groundout, Lowrie scored when Ellsbury's chopper hugged the first base line. Downs slipped and fell in pursuit of the ball, injuring himself on the play.

"It would have been a real tough play for him," Ellsbury said. "I saw him slip, and at that point I was just hoping it would stay fair, and it worked out."

"It's a crazy game," Lowrie said. "You can do everything right and get an out but Jacoby got one down the line, used his speed and got us ahead."

David Ortiz added an insurance run, plating Ellsbury with an RBI double.

"I thought we could hang onto that lead tonight but we didn't manage to do it," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "Unfortunately, Downs slipped out there, otherwise the game probably would have still been tied or maybe we would have been ahead and won the game. The guys played hard but we just couldn't hang on."

Justin Masterson (6-4) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 37th save in 42 chances.

"It hurts anytime we lose one," Gaston said. "But when you're ahead and lose a ball game it always hurts more than anything because normally with that bullpen out there, we usually can hang on to it. But tonight it didn't happen."

The Blue Jays won the first game of the doubleheader, 8-1, as the 20-year-old Snider homered and drove in five runs. He drove in a run and scored a run in the nightcap.

Dustin Pedroia had two doubles and a single in the win, giving him 200 hits for the season. He is the first Boston player since Mo Vaughn in 1998 to reach the plateau. Pedroia's two doubles gave him 50, making him the third Red Sox player in history with 200 hits and 50 doubles, joining Hall of Famers Tris Speaker (1912) and Wade Boggs (1989).

"Hopefully, I can get more hits," Pedroia said. "We still have 14 more games so hopefully, I don't go 0 for the 14 games."

The Red Sox struck first against starter Jesse Litsch in the nightcap on a bizarre play. Following a walk to Ellsbury and a double by Pedroia, Ortiz struck out. But with Kevin Youkilis at the plate, Litsch uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Ellsbury to score.

Catcher Gregg Zaun tried to flip the ball to Litsch covering the plate but the throw got away, allowing Pedroia to cross the plate with Boston's second run on the error.

"After getting beat the way we did the first game, (Toronto starter) A.J. (Burnett) just shut us down and whooped on us, so we definitely wanted to come out with some energy, score first and we did," Pedroia said.

But Bartolo Colon, making his first start since June 16 due to lower back strain, could not hold the lead and was done in by some shoddy defense.

With one out in the second, Adam Lind and Scott Rolen singled and Lowrie mishandled Zaun's grounder at third to load the bases. Snider then walked to force in one run before Joe Inglett stroked with a two-run double.