Tampa Bay @ Boston preview
Fenway Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 7, 2010 ) Tampa Bay 14, Boston 5
On Tuesday night, the Tampa Bay Rays delivered the knockout blow to the Boston Red Sox's playoff hopes. On Wednesday, they will set their sights on the American League East division lead.
The Rays begin play today just 1 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees. Tampa Bay had 24 games remaining, one more than the Yankees.
Left-hander David Price and the Rays put the Red Sox out of their misery on Tuesday.
Price won his 17th game of the season and Tampa Bay hit five home runs on the way to a 14-5 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The victory left Boston fell 7 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay in the wild-card standings.
The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in the game, but Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-5) struggled once again with his control and this time the Rays made him pay for it.
Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria both had a homer and three RBIs. Dan Johnson, Jason Bartlett and B.J. Upton also homered for the Rays and Carl Crawford had four hits.
Tampa Bay tied the game with two runs in the third inning and then put it away with four in the fourth and six more in the fifth inning.
Clay Buchholz was scheduled to pitch for the Red Sox, but knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (3-10) will take his place. Boston manager Terry Francona said he intended using Buchholz if Boston had won the first two games of the series.
Boston won the series opener on Monday, but after getting trounced on Tuesday any realistic hopes the Red Sox had for catching Tampa Bay are gone.
Thus, that ended the idea of starting Buchholz on three days’ rest for the first time in his career. Buchholz has been brilliant for Boston on the season, posting 15 wins and the AL’s best ERA of 2.25.
He will most likely finish behind New York’s CC Sabathia and Price in the AL Cy Young Award voting.
Matt Garza (14-7) goes for the Rays, who snapped a three-game losing streak on Tuesday. Garza is 7-3 lifetime against Boston and didn’t figure in the decision in Tampa Bay’s 3-2 win over the Red Sox a week ago.
In that game Garza, also facing Buchholz, allowed just one run in seven innings.
Wakefield, who has alternated between the bullpen and starting rotation, hasn’t won since July 2.
Catcher Jason Varitek returned to the Red Sox lineup on Tuesday for the first time in over two months. He went 0-for-2.