Red Sox Lose Despite Turning A Triple Play (74-47)

Last night, the Sox played a really hard and disappointing game against the Rays, losing 6-2. However, they made history with their first triple play since 1994. After two singles to start the 2nd inning for the Rays, Casey Kotchman advanced them on a slow bouncer to the right side. Sean Rodriguez then drove in one of those runs on a grounder to third that Lowrie botched to make it 1-0. It quickly became 2-0 as Matt Joyce grounded out to Dustin Pedroia. The Sox got one run back in the 3rd as Jason Varitek crushed one down the line that stayed fair for a solo shot. In the 4th, after 2 singles to lead off the inning, the Sox turned their first triple play since 1994. In the 5th, however, the Rays got some insuranceas Desmond Jennings crushed one over the monster to make it 3-1. In the bottom of the 6th, Jacoby Ellsbury hit his second home run of the day and hit one into the bullpen to make it 3-2. In the 8th inning, the Rays led off with runners at 1st and 2nd and 1 out. B.J. Upton then singled to score another to make it 4-2. A few plays later, the Sox made another bad defensive play that allowed Ben Zobrist to steal home. They got B.J. Upton essentially picked off, but when Zobrist tried to score Mike Aviles threw the ball to third instead of home. After an RBI single by Casey Kotchman the score was 6-2.

Erik Bedard was decent again, which is what he asked of him and he's come through. He allowed 3 runs in 6 innings and is now 4-8/3.44/104. In relief, Matt Albers was awful, allowing 3 runs in 1 1/3 innings. Franklin Morales threw 2/3 of a scoreless but allowed some inherited runners to score. Dan Wheeler was, therefore, the Red Sox only clean reliever, throwing a scoreless inning. Jacoby Ellsbury was, for the 2nd straight game, 1-4 with a home run, except last night it was a solo shot, but he is now .313/22/78. Jason Varitek went 1-3 with a solo home run, as he is now .226/8/24. Tonight, John Lackey (11-8/6.13/79) will go against David Price (10-10/3.76/158), as the only thing I can say about this matchup is "C.C. Sabathia?"

Bright Spots:

Erik Bedard- 3 runs in 6 innings

Dan Wheeler- a scoreless inning of relief

Jacoby Ellsbury- 1-4 with a solo home run

Jason Varitek- 1-3 with a solo home run

Dull Spots:

Matt Albers- 3 runs in 1 1/3 innings

Everybody else in the lineup- 1-23 with 6 strikeouts

This was another bad game for the Sox, and now we're in 2nd place.