Red Sox Lose to Rays, Was it Too Good to Be True?
The Red Sox lost to the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 last night in a real nail-biter. After winning their last five games (beating some not-so-great teams) with each starter tossing a beauty, we wondered what would happen when faced with a team that actually has a good record. Over the next couple of weeks, they’ll play the Rays and the Orioles — currently tied for first atop the AL East. Ok, I never thought I’d type those words this year, but it’s the facts. This will be the test.
In part one of this test last night, the Sox failed. It wasn’t a complete bomb — Clay Buchholz, despite taking the L, only gave up two runs. A big improvement over his first several starts and in any normal game where the offense tees off on the opposing pitcher, that would be good enough for a win. It wasn’t. Buchholz was one-upped by Jeremy Hellickson, who improved to 4 and 0, stymieing the Red Sox line up.
What really annoys me is that the Rays scored their first run on a balk. A balk! I’ve seen more balks called on the Red Sox so far this season than I did in all of 2011. What’s up with that? Are the umpires just being more critical of the pick off moves? Or are they making this crap up? I’ve been doing a lot of head shaking over this.
The Sox were just… meh… at the plate. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Mike Aviles both had two hits, but others struggled. Adrian Gonzalez took another 0-fer and struck out twice, and the recently struggling Will Middlebrooks struck out three times. I think I’m most worried about Gonzalez. You would expect him to struggle in his first season with the Sox, in a new park, a new league… but not after he has one season under his belt. I can’t figure this one out.
The only real excitement came in the 8th inning when Franklin Morales hit Will Rhymes in the forearm. The trainers checked him out and he made his way to first. It was obvious to others on the field that Rhymes was not feeling too steady on his feet and as he started to leave the field, he passed out in the arms of the first base coach. Fainted actually. Turns out he’s ok and probably a bit embarrassed.
Click on over to the box score for a not-so-exciting read, courtesy of the Red Sox. Tonight, they finish up their quick two-game series with the Rays with Felix Doubront taking the hill. First pitch is at 7:10pm.









