Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
Al Reyes did not allow this quote to ring true shutting down Boston’s second attempt at a ninth inning rally in back-to-back games closing the door in the ninth in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 6-5 win.
Although Reyes did give up a run in the inning.
With Julio Lugo on second base after knocking in Boston’s fifth run on a double to center field, Dustin Pedroia failed to drop down a sacrifice bunt to move Lugo to third and then inning went sour in a hurry.
Pedroia struck out swinging, followed by a Kevin Youkilis strikeout and Devil Rays closer Reyes finished the inning striking out Manny Ramirez to seal Andy Sonnanstine’s second win of the season.
Down 6-0 going into the bottom of the seventh Boston rallied back scoring three in the seventh on a two run homerun off the bat of Jason Varitek and another RBI double by Lugo.
Ramirez drove home David Ortiz on a double in the bottom of the eighth making it 6-4 which made the ninth inning rally seem possible.
Daisuke Matsuzaka had a rough game pitching for 6 innings, giving up eight hits, six runs, walking three, and striking out five.
Matsuzaka (13-9) gave up one run in the first on a ground out by Carlos Pena, but he had one bad inning that put the Red Sox in the whole early.
In the third inning Tampa Bay scored four runs on a Pena two-RBI double, an infield single by Delmon Young, a sacrifice hit by second baseman Brendan Harris to first base.
Matsuzaka allowed another run in the sixth on a sacrifice hit by Dioner Navarro.
While Matsuzaka was struggling, Sonnanstine pitched a shutout into the seventh inning. Sonnanstine earned the win pitching for 6 2/3 innings, allowing four hits, three runs, walked two, and struck out three in the game.
Again Boston fans can debate whether or not who was to blame in this loss: Terry Francona or Pedroia instead of Gagne this time. My money is on Francona simply because the player who best handles the bat in a sac bunt situation was left to ride the pine, Alex Cora, until he was used to pinch run later in the inning.
On the bright side at least the Yankees lost.
NOTES: By the way can we get this linuep settled already.
