Before the game, the Sox activated Will Middlebrooks from the disabled list and waved...more like waived goodbye to Pedro Ciriaco, who was designated for assignment. He can either go down to Pawtucket, given his outright release or get scooped up by someone else.
As for the game itself, the Sox wasted no time scoring. Jacoby Ellsbury led the game off with a single and Shane Victorino doubled off the glove of James Loney. Dustin Pedroia singled up the middle to score both baserunners. David Ortiz worked a walk and Daniel Nava lined a 3-2 pitch off the top of the wall for a double that scored Pedroia. Mike Carp singled to score both base-runners to make it 5-0 without an out recorded. Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled off the short wall in left. The returning Will Middlebrooks singled in Carp and moved Salty to third. PU Drew popped up for the first out and Ellbury banged into a double play to end the inning. Although no one knew it at the time, the double play would turn out to be huge as the Sox.
Now John Lackey had a 6 run lead to work with....and gave one of the runs right back as Matt Joyce led off the bottom of the first with a home run. Lackey struck out Ben Zobrist and got Kelly Johnson to fly out but Evan Logoria homered to dead center to cut the lead 6-2. Loney also flied out but the Rays comeback had begun.
Victorino and Pedroia grounded out to second but Ortiz walked again to lead off the top of the second. Nava popped up to end the inning. Luke Scott flied out to begin the bottom of the second but Desmond Jennings singled. Jennings stole second and advanced to third on the swinging bunt force by Jose Lobaton. Yunel Escobar walked but Joyce grounded out to second to end the inning. Lackey had a few choice words for the Tampa bench on his way back to the dugout.
Cobb settled down to retire Carp on a groundout to begin the top of the third. Cobb struck out Salty and got Middlebrooks to ground out to end the inning. In the bottom of the third, Lackey continued to struggle by allowing leadoff singles to Zobrist, Johnson and Longoria. Loney hit an absolute rocket right to Carp for a big out. Luke Scott scored Zobrist with a force out to cut the lead 6-3. Jennings struck out but the damage was done.
In the top of the 4th, Cobb continued to stay red hot by striking out Drew and Ellsbury. Victorino worked a walk and advanced to second on a blown pickoff by Loney. Victorino advanced to third on a wild pitch but Pedroia struck out to end the inning. The Rays struck again in the bottom of the 4th when Lobaton and Escobar hit back to back singles to open the frame. Joyce popped up but Zobrist singled home Lobaton to cut the lead 6-4. Johnson flied out but BOTH runners tagged and advanced. Longoria flied out but the Rays were inching closer and closer.
At this point, Rays manager Joe Maddon took no chances and relieved Cobb with red hot Alex Torres in the top of the 5th. Torres worked around a Carp single to strike out the side. Lackey got his only clean inning by retiring the side in order in the bottom of the 5th. Torres worked around an Ellsbury single to escape the top of the 6th unscathed. Things got hairy in the bottom of the 6th. Lackey got two quick outs before plunking Joyce with a pitch. Joyce felt it was intentional and charged the mound, resulting in a bench clearing scrum.
Luckily, no punches were thrown and no one was ejected. Zobrist doubled to right and Sox manager John Farrell had seen enough of Lackey. Farrell lifted Lackey for Craig Breslow. Lackey had a few parting words for the Rays bench as he departed. Breslow punched out Johnson (not literally though) to end the inning.
Joel Peralta replaced Torres for the top of the 7th and walked Pedroia but promptly got Ortiz to bang into a double play. Nava flied out and it was on to the bottom of the 7th. Strangely, Farrell replaced Breslow with Andrew Miller. If he wanted the lefty matchups, he should have just left Breslow in there. The move proved costly as Loney smashed a one out 400 foot home run to cut the lead 6-5. Scott flied out and Farrell made his way to the mound to lift Miller for Junichi Tazawa. Just like that Farrell has burned both lefty relievers in a game that had extra innings written all over it. Taz got Jennings to pop up but that was bad management by Farrell.
Jacke McGee relieved Peralta for the top of the 8th and worked a clean inning. The Sox have been shut out since the first inning, not a good sign. The (censored) finally hit the fan in the bottom of the 8th. Escobar stroked a 1 out double, who moved to third on the force by Joyce. All Taz needed was one more out but he uncharacteristically threw wide of Salty, allowing Escobar to score the tying run. It took 8 innings but the Rays had come all the way back to tie it. Zobrist doubled and Johnson popped up and nobody took charge. A diving catch by Pedroia possibly saved the game....on a routine pop up.
Could the Sox respond against Rays closer Fernando Rodney after blowing the lead? No! Rodney struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced. Farrell decided to save his closer in case the Sox took the lead and brought in Clayton "Vigo" Mortensen to pitch the bottom of the 9th. Loney hit a one out single and Sean Rodriguez ran for him, but Vigo got the next 2 batters no problem.
The Sox had been shut out since the first inning but would be silenced no more. Pedroia led off the top of the 10th with a walk and an Ortiz grounder moved him to second. Nava walked and Pedroia stole third in the process. Things looked bleak when MagiCarp struck out but Nava moved to second on defensive indifference. Maybe they should have paid attention to Nava because Salty then drove both runners home with a single to make it 8-6. That was it for Rodney as Maddon pulled him for Jamey Wright, who struck out Middlebrooks to end the inning.
Now Farrell could use his closer for the bottom of the 10th. Unfortunately Andrew Bailey ran smack into Jose Lobaton who greeted him with a home run to right field. 2 walks and a Zobrist single (his 5th hit of the night) loaded the bases with nobody out. A walk to Kelly Johnson tied the game and all hope looked to be lost. The Sox caught a break when Longoria laced a ground ball to Middlebrooks who fired home for the force and Salty fired to first for the double play. Sam Fuld pinch hit for Rodriguez and tried to catch the Sox asleep with a bunt but the alert Dustin Pedroia was there to snatch it and fire to first to end the inning. Bailey blew the save but it could have been worse, the Rays had the bases loaded with no out and couldn't score.
PU Drew struck out to begin the top of the 11th but Ellsbury walked. Victorino flied out and that was it for Wright. Maddon brought in Kyle Farnsworth to pitch to Pedroia. Ellsbury swiped second and third without hurting himself but was stranded when Pedroia struck out. Having no choice, Farrell sent to the exhausted Koji Uehara, who had thrown 30 pitched the day before, to the mound for the bottom of the 11th. 2 pop ups and a groundout later, it was on to the 12th. Cesar Ramos relieved Farnsworth and got 2 straight outs before Jonnny Gomes pinch hit for Carp. Strike 3 see ya, on to the bottom of the inning. Uehara got the first 2 outs then faced Zobrist who was 5 for 6 going into the at-bat....strike 3 yerrr out.
Could the Sox strike in the top of the 13th? It seemed like they would when Salty singled....but when Middlebrooks banged into a double play, all looked to be lost. PU Drew singled but Ellsbury flied out to end the threat. With nobody left in the bullpen, Farrell then turned to Wednesday's starter Franklin Morales to pitch the bottom of the 13th. Morales got the first 2 outs before Ryan Roberts pinch hit for Fuld and walked. Morales struck out Scott to end the inning.
Ramos begin tiring in the top of the 14th. Victorino led off with a single then made a smart move by tagging and moving to second on a fly out by Pedroia. Maddon made the smart move by intentionally walking Ortiz but Nava broke through with a single that scored Victorino.
The Sox weren't done yet. Jose Iglesias pinch ran for Ortiz but Gomes flied out. Saltlamacchia then finished his heroic night by singling home Iglesias to make it 10-8. Middlebrooks flied out to end the inning. Now could Morales get the 3 outs that Tazawa and Bailey failed to get? It didn't look good when Jennings singled to lead off the inning but Lobaton flied out. Then Escobar grounded a ball to Pedroia who flipped it to Drew for one and onto first.....DOUBLE PLAY! THE RED SOX WIN!
THE GOOD:
For the first time this year we have THREE...count em....THREE heroes of the night. The first is the offensive star of the game, Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty was 4 for 7 with 3 big rbis, raising his average to .285.
Hero of the night number 2 pitched like he's number one. Koji Uehara was thrown into the fire after throwin g31 pitches yesterday and responded with 2 perfect innings to keep the Sox in the game.
The final hero was also thrown into the fire. Franklin Morales was slated to start Wednesday and threw a bullpen session today. The plan to start Wednesday went out the window when Morales pitched 2 innings tonight to get the victory (2-0, 7.04 ERA).
Other do-gooders include Jacoby Ellsbury who was 2 for 6 with a walk and a run scored. Shane Victorino was 2 for 6 with a walk and 2 runs scored. Dustin Pedroia was 1 for 5 but with two walks, 2 rbi's and 2 runs scored. Jose Iglesias pinch ran for David Ortiz and scored. Daniel Nava was 2 for 6 with a walk, 2 rbi's and 2 runs scored including the go-ahead single. Mike Carp was 2 for 5 with 2 rbi's and a run scored. Craig Breslow struck out the only batter he faced. Vigo Mortensen pitched a scoreless 9th.
THE BAD:
Even on a night like this, there was some bawful. No matter what happened in extra innings, John Lackey would have been jackass of the night. He was staked to a 6 run lead and gave 4 of them back on 10 hits and a walk in only 5 2/3 innings. Jonny Gomes was 0 for 2 including looking at strike 3 down the middle. Andrew Miller gave up a home run to Loney and didn't finish the 7th. Junichi Tazawa let the tying run score in the 8th. PU Drew was just 1 for 6 with a golden sombrero of 4 strikeouts.
THE UGLY:
David Ortiz was 0 for 4 but walked 3 times and scored a run. Will Middlebrooks was just 1 for 7 but knocked in a run with his one hit. Andrew Bailey blew a 2 run save in the 10th but also managed to get out of the bases loaded nobody out jam.
Final Thoughts:
Game of the year right there. Tampa wouldn't roll over and die but neither would the Red Sox. I'm liking the never say die attitude of the Red Sox because that's how Tampa Bay's been keeping afloat the last 5 years. The game went from a first inning laugher to a 14 inning thrillride with the Sox coming out on top. Its nice to see Saltalamacchia heat up, Greg Colbrunn has done a heck of a job with not only Salty but Nava as well. In fact, Nava has many homers and one less rbi than Adrian Gonzalez. The win moved the Red Sox to 40-25, 2 games ahead of the idle Yankees. Unfortunately, there are repricussions even by winning a 14 inning game. Their entire bullpen is taxed and Jon Lester has to be dominant tomorrow or they're in trouble. The Sox may need to make a move to bring up some fresh troops in Triple A, mainly Alfredo Aceves, Jose De La Torre or Alan Webster. The good news is a wins a win and tomorrow Lester goes up against 3-6 Roberto Hernandez, hoping to keep the winning streak alive.
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