Rays 1 - 5 Red Sox
Final
  for this game

Red Sox eye first place vs. Rays

Jun 4, 2008 - 2:16 PM Tampa Bay (35-23) at Boston (36-25) 7:05 p.m. EDT

BOSTON (Ticker) -- The Boston Red Sox look to reclaim the top spot in the American League East when they host the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.

The Red Sox have been looking up at the surprising Rays in the standings for over a week now, but a 7-4 win in Tuesday's series opener pulled them back within one-half game of the top spot in the division.

Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew each homered Tuesday and Coco Crisp doubled in a pair of runs off Matt Garza in a four-run sixth inning that put away the game.

The victory marked Boston's 11th straight win at Fenway park dating to May 1. The Red sox own a major league-best 22-5 mark at home - the third best home start in franchise history.

Ace Josh Beckett (5-4, 4.30 ERA) will try to push that home streak to 12 games when he takes the mound Wednesday. The righthander is 0-1 over his last two starts despite strong efforts in which he has allowed a total of four runs in 13 innings while posting 19 strikeouts.

Beckett has already faced the Rays twice this season, suffering a loss at Tropicana Field on April 27 despite a career-high 13 strikeouts and earning the win in his next turn at Fenway on May 3 while surrendering four runs in eight innings.

Tampa Bay will counter with righthander Edwin Jackson (3-4, 3.70). The 24-year-old had a string of four strong starts snapped by the White Sox on Thursday, when he yielded four runs in six frames to suffer a loss.

Jackson also has faced Boston twice this year, winning at home on April 26 and surrendering six runs in four innings May 2 at Fenway.








  • AL
    FINAL
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
    - - - - - - - - - - - -
    TAMPA BAY 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 1
    BOSTON 0 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 x 5 11 0 (FINAL)

    BATTERIES: TAM - EDWIN JACKSON, JASON HAMMEL (6TH), TREVER MILLER (8TH) AND
    DIONER NAVARRO
    BOS - JOSH BECKETT, MANNY DELCARMEN (7TH), HIDEKI
    OKAJIMA (8TH), CRAIG HANSEN (9TH)

    Jun 4 10:21 PM


  • AL
    AT BOSTON - SCORING UPDATE
    SINGLE BY KEVIN YOUKILIS SCORED J.D. DREW.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, K YOUKILIS ON FIRST, M LOWELL ON SECOND, M
    RAMIREZ ON THIRD, 1 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: TAMPA BAY 1
    BOSTON 5 BOTTOM, 7TH
    DUE UP FOR BOSTON: J VARITEK (.270, 1-FOR-3)

    Rays 1, Red Sox 5  Bot 7, 0 OutsJun 4 9:45 PM
  • 10
    roots
    RmSvc Added 5 roots

    Rays 1, Red Sox 4  Bot 6, 0 OutsJun 4 9:12 PM


  • AL
    AT BOSTON - SCORING UPDATE
    SACRIFICE FLY BY COCO CRISP SCORED KEVIN YOUKILIS.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J VARITEK ON FIRST, 1 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: TAMPA BAY 1
    BOSTON 4 BOTTOM, 4TH
    DUE UP FOR BOSTON: J LUGO (.274, 0-FOR-1)

    Rays 1, Red Sox 4  Bot 4, 0 OutsJun 4 8:40 PM


  • AL
    AT BOSTON - SCORING UPDATE
    SINGLE BY ERIC HINSKE SCORED EVAN LONGORIA.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, E HINSKE ON FIRST, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: TAMPA BAY 1
    BOSTON 3 TOP, 4TH
    DUE UP FOR TAMPA BAY: G GROSS (.239, 0-FOR-1)

    Rays 1, Red Sox 3  Top 4, 0 OutsJun 4 8:33 PM


  • AL
    AT BOSTON - SCORING UPDATE
    SINGLE BY MANNY RAMIREZ SCORED J.D. DREW.
    SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, M RAMIREZ ON FIRST, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: TAMPA BAY 0
    BOSTON 3 BOTTOM, 3RD
    DUE UP FOR BOSTON: M LOWELL (.282, 0-FOR-1)

    Rays 0, Red Sox 3  Bot 3, 0 OutsJun 4 8:18 PM


  • AL
    AT BOSTON - SCORING UPDATE
    GROUND RULE DOUBLE BY J.D. DREW SCORED JACOBY ELLSBURY.
    SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J DREW ON SECOND, 2 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: TAMPA BAY 0
    BOSTON 2 BOTTOM, 3RD
    DUE UP FOR BOSTON: M RAMIREZ (.294, 0-FOR-1)

    Rays 0, Red Sox 2  Bot 3, 0 OutsJun 4 8:15 PM


  • AL
    AT BOSTON - SCORING UPDATE
    SINGLE BY JACOBY ELLSBURY SCORED COCO CRISP.
    SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J ELLSBURY ON FIRST, 1 OUT
    CURRENT SCORE: TAMPA BAY 0
    BOSTON 1 BOTTOM, 3RD
    DUE UP FOR BOSTON: D PEDROIA (.276, 0-FOR-0, BB)

    Rays 0, Red Sox 1  Bot 3, 0 OutsJun 4 8:08 PM

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