Tampa Bay 4, Boston 3
When: 1:35 PM ET, Sunday, May 27, 2012
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature:
70°
Umpires:
Home -
Angel Hernandez, 1B -
Chris Conroy, 2B -
Mark Carlson, 3B -
Ed Rapuano
Attendance:
37844
By SportsDirect Inc.
Rays 4, Red Sox 3: Sean Rodriguez hit a two-run homer off Alfredo Aceves in the top of the ninth inning to lift visiting Tampa Bay to a victory over Boston in the rubber match of a three-game set.
Fernando Rodney atoned for a blown save on Saturday with a perfect bottom of the ninth for his 16th save and Jake McGee (2-1) picked up the win in relief for the Rays, who moved back into a tie for first place in the American League East with the Baltimore Orioles.
Aceves (0-2) walked Ben Zobrist leading off the ninth and fell behind Rodriguez, 3-1, with one out. The right-hander tried to go away with a fastball but left it over the plate, where Rodriguez was able to crush it deep over the left field wall to give Tampa Bay the lead.
Aceves had not blown a save since Apr. 21 and had not been scored upon in any of his previous seven appearances.
Jeremy Hellickson breezed through the first six innings for Tampa Bay but allowed the first two batters to reach in the seventh in front of Adrian Gonzalez. The slugger got a 1-0 changeup from Hellickson and took it to the opposite field, tucking it just over the Green Monster and inside the foul pole for a 3-2 lead.
The Rays opened the scoring in the fourth when Matt Joyce doubled to right and advanced to third as Gonzalez overthrew the cutoff man. Joyce scored on Zobrist’s single, and Will Rhymes added an RBI single in the seventh to make it 2-0.
The bullpen breakdown wasted a strong effort from Clay Buchholz, who went seven innings in his best start of the season. The right-hander allowed two runs and eight hits while walking one and striking out six.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Red Sox (23-24) have had five different opportunities to climb over .500 and have squandered them all. … Rays 1B Carlos Pena finished the series 1-for-12 with four strikeouts out of the leadoff spot. … Boston OF Ryan Sweeney (concussion) is expected to be activated from the 7-day disabled list on Monday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Tampa Bay |
|
Boston |
|
Jeremy Hellickson |
Player |
Clay Buchholz |
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
7.2 |
IP |
7.0 |
|
3 |
Strikeouts |
6 |
|
7 |
Hits |
8 |
|
3.52 |
ERA |
2.57 |
Hitting
| Tampa Bay |
|
Boston |
|
Will Rhymes | Player |
Scott Podsednik |
|
3 |
Hits |
2 |
|
1 |
RBI |
0 |
|
0 |
HR |
0 |
|
3 |
TB |
2 |
|
1.000 |
Avg |
.667 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Tampa Bay
|
9 |
1 |
14 |
.273 |
8 |
9 |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
| Boston
|
7 |
1 |
10 |
.226 |
10 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
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