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Red Sox, Rays fight for first place in AL East

Sep 16, 2008 - 12:46 PM Boston (89-61) at Tampa Bay (88-60), 7:10 pm EDT

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) -- For the first time in 53 days, the Tampa Bay Rays have company atop the American League East.

Locked in a virtual tie, the Rays will try to fend off the surging Boston Red Sox in the middle match of a crucial three-game set on Tuesday at Tropicana Field.

The Red Sox have won 10 of 14 games this month - including their first of the season at Tropicana Field. The club remains percentage points behind the Rays, but are in better position compared to September 1, when they trailed by 5 1/2 games.

"I've got them ratcheting it up a little bit," Rays manager Joe Maddon said to the St. Petersburg Times. "They're turning up the dial. They've been there. And I know they can smell it. I think we can smell it. They can smell it. It comes down to starting pitching."

The Red Sox used home runs from six different players to tag Scott Kazmir early and rolled to a convincing 13-5 victory in the opener.

Tampa Bay has dropped three straight and allowed 27 runs in that span.

"We don't want to settle for the wild card," Kazmir told the St. Petersburg Times. "We want to finish this thing off and go into the postseason winning the division."

Andy Sonnanstine (13-7, 4.47 ERA) takes the mound for the Rays, who have dropped nine of 13 games this month. The 25-year-old righthander can tie the record for most wins in a season by a Tampa Bay pitcher, which was set by Rolando Arrojo in 1998 - the franchise's inaugural campaign.

Sonnanstine shut down the Red Sox in his last outing on Wednesday, when he surrendered one unearned run and four hits in seven brilliant frames en route to a 4-2 victory.

His counterpart, Josh Beckett (12-9, 4.10) was the tough-luck loser in that bout. Beckett has been superb since returning to the rotation from a lingering elbow injury. In two efforts, he has given up one run and 10 hits in 11 innings, striking out 14 and walking two.