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Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Boston 7, Tampa Bay 3
When: 1:40 PM ET, Sunday, July 15, 2012
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Mike DiMuro, 1B - Jim Reynolds, 2B - James Hoye, 3B - Jeff Nelson
Attendance: 26131

Red Sox 7, Rays 3: Mike Aviles and Daniel Nava homered and Will Middlebrooks had three hits and two RBIs, as visiting Boston kept Tampa Bay starter James Shields reeling and claimed the three-game series.

Shields (8-6) continued his rough patch, allowing six runs on 11 hits over five innings. He surrendered both Boston home runs and has given up 23 earned runs and 52 hits over his last five starts.

Red Sox starter Josh Beckett (5-7) allowed three runs in the first but settled in to throw five scoreless frames after that to earn his first win since May 20. He gave up eight hits and struck out seven over six innings.

Desmond Jennings' two-run single gave Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead, but Aviles answered with his 10th homer - a two-run shot into the batter's eye - an inning later. Nava's solo shot into the right-field seats - his fourth - gave Boston a 4-3 lead in fifth, and MIddlebrooks added a two-run single later in the inning.

The Rays loaded the bases in the ninth against Alfredo Aceves, but Aceves got a fly ball from Hideki Matsui to the end the threat.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Shields has allowed four or more earned runs in nine of his last 12 starts. … Red Sox DH David Ortiz went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. … Ortiz has at least one hit and one walk in nine straight games, the first Boston player to do so since Ted Williams in 1950. … Red Sox 1B Adrian Gonzalez returned after missing two games with lower back spasms. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI and was replaced by Brent Lillibridge in the eighth. … Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits and is 6-for-14 since being activated from the disabled list Friday.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Boston   Tampa Bay
Josh Beckett Player James Shields
Win W/L Loss
6.0 IP 5.0
7 Strikeouts 5
8 Hits 11
4.50 ERA 10.80
Hitting
Boston   Tampa Bay
Will MiddlebrooksPlayer Ben Zobrist
3 Hits 3
2 RBI 1
0 HR 0
4 TB 4
.750 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Boston 14 2 22 .378 20 10 7 4 0 0
Tampa Bay 10 0 12 .286 22 9 3 5 0 0