July 28, 2007 Devil Rays 4, Red Sox 3

The long ball is both a blessing and a curse for the Sox today. First, the good. Julio Lugo surpasses his real life homer total with his 9th of the year in the 5th off Jason Shields (scoring Mike Lowell ahead of him, who had gotten the Sox first hit of the game earlier in the inning) scoring 2 and giving the Sox the 2-0 lead. That lead was erased in the bottom of the 6th by Jonny Gomes' 2-run single off Jon Lester which tied the game 2-all. Delmon Young rips a 2-run blast in the bottom of the 8th off normally reliable Hideki Okajima to give the Rays the 4-2 lead. The Sox get to Rays stopper Al Reyes in the 9th with a David Ortiz solo blast to lead off the inning to narrow the gap to a run, but besides a JD Drew single that was all they would get. Shields with the win goes to 13-3, tying him for the AL lead in wins with Jeremy Guthrie of the Orioles. The Sox lose their second straight game, the first back-to-back losses since June 25-26, just over a month ago.

Strat-O-Matic Report

---

BOXSCORE: 2007 Boston Red Sox At 2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays          7/28/2007
 
  Red Sox            AB  R  H RBI AVG     Devil Rays         AB  R  H RBI AVG
  C.Crisp CF          3  0  0  0 .281     A.Iwamura 3B        2  0  0  0 .278  
  A.Cora 2B           4  0  1  0 .273     B.Harris SS         4  1  1  0 .259  
  D.Ortiz DH          4  1  1  1 .310     B.Upton CF          3  2  1  0 .317  
  M.Ramirez LF        4  0  0  0 .326     C.Pena 1B           3  0  0  0 .319  
  K.Youkilis 1B       4  0  0  0 .304     D.Young RF          4  1  2  2 .284  
  J.Drew RF           3  0  0  0 .245     J.Gomes LF          4  0  2  2 .298  
  M.Lowell 3B         4  0  1  0 .285     J.Wilson 2B         4  0  0  0 .261  
  J.Varitek C         3  1  0  0 .252     G.Norton DH         3  0  0  0 .261  
  J.Lugo SS           3  1  1  2 .216     J.Paul C            2  0  0  0 .150  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      32  3  4  3                 Totals      29  4  6  4
 
 
Red Sox......... 0 0 0  0 2 0  0 0 1  -  3  4  0
Devil Rays...... 0 0 0  0 0 2  0 2    -  4  6  1
 
Red Sox (62-42)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
J.Lester                  5 1/3   4   2   2   3   6   0  83   3.48
M.Delcarmen BS(1st)       1 2/3   1   0   0   1   2   0  26   1.46
H.Okajima LOSS(5-5)       1       1   2   2   1   1   1  27   1.53
Totals                    8       6   4   4   5   9   1
 
Devil Rays (51-52)       IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA
J.Shields WIN(13-3)       8       3   2   2   1   7   1  99   3.21
A.Reyes SAVE(18th)        1       1   1   1   1   1   1  20   4.15
Totals                    9       4   3   3   2   8   2
 
ATTENDANCE- 23,563 DATE- Saturday, July 28th 2007 TIME- Day 
T- 2:23
LEFT ON BASE- Red Sox: 4  Devil Rays: 6
DOUBLE PLAYS- Red Sox: 1  Devil Rays: 0
ERRORS- J.Shields
HOME RUNS- D.Ortiz(22nd), J.Lugo(9th), D.Young(12th)
STOLEN BASES- J.Paul(1st)
WALKS- C.Crisp, J.Drew, A.Iwamura-2, B.Upton, C.Pena, J.Paul
STRIKE OUTS- A.Cora, D.Ortiz, M.Ramirez, K.Youkilis-2, M.Lowell, J.Varitek,
             J.Lugo, A.Iwamura, B.Harris, B.Upton-2, C.Pena, D.Young, J.Wilson,
             G.Norton, J.Paul
GIDP- B.Harris
WILD PITCHES- J.Lester, J.Shields
PASSED BALLS- J.Paul
 
James Shields went 8 strong innings as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays defeated the
Boston Red Sox by a score of 4 to 3 at Tropicana Field.
 
Shields(13-3) was very good in the win.  He didn't give up much, just 3 hits
and 1 walk in 8 innings.  Boston had a chance to come back in the 9th but
they came up short.  
 
Shields got help from Al Reyes who earned his 18th save.  Hideki Okajima(5-5)
suffered the loss in relief.  He pitched 1 inning and surrendered 1 hit and 1
walk.
 
'We just made a lot of mistakes, mostly mental,' Gary Lucas said. 'It's bad
enough when the other team beats you, but when you start beating yourselves,
that's really bad.'

• Go to Strat-O-Matic Homepage