In an evening that was clearly a pitchers duel it was the long ball that was the deciding factor. Cliff Floyd hit a bomb of Sox reliever Scott Linebrink in the bottom of the 9th for the walk-off victory. James Shields threw a strong 6 innings giving up 7 hits, 1 earned run, 6 strike outs and only 1 base on balls. The bullpen closed it out with a strong performance of 3 innings and only 1 hit. The Sox had their chances to score stranding 8 runners on base.
Great to see the Rays get aggressive on the base paths with stolen bases from Akinori Iwamura and BJ Upton. BJ Upton had a good night at the plate going 1 for 2 with 2 bases on balls and knocking in the other run. Akinori Iwamura was the only Ray to have a multi-hit game going 2 for 4 at the dish and scoring the other run. Upton also turned a defensive blunder into an outfield assist by throwing out AJ Pierzynski on a ball that fell in short center field between 3 Ray defenders.
Nice to see the Rays rebound from a lackluster performance Thursday evening with a strong pitching and defensive showing. Rays still sit atop the AL East alone with the Red Sox 1 game back. Tonight’s game features another great pitching match up — Kazmir (4-1, 1.50) going against Vazquez (5-3, 3.52). First pitch at 6:10pm with no TV today so GET TO THE TROP!
See you there!!!
