The Tampa Bay Rays took the third and final game of this home series from the Boston Red Sox on the strength of excellent starting pitching by David Price. The hard-throwing lefty picked up 10 strikeouts and allowed two runs on eight hits. Relievers Grant Balfour and Randy Choate were each charged with a run and Matt Garza picked up his first career save as the Rays beat the Red Sox 6-4 at Tropicana Field.
Evan Longoria opened up the scoring with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, Carlos Pena walked and stole second with knuckle-baller Tim Wakefield – whose MPH maxes out in the 60s – on the mound for Boston. Matt Joyce walked as well and both runners advanced on a wild pitch, moving Pena to third; he would score next on B.J. Upton’s infield single. With Price getting it done on defense, Tampa Bay tacked on three more in the fifth inning. Kelly Shoppach and Ben Zobrist walked to lead off; Shoppach advanced to third on Carl Crawford's long line-out to right field. The alert Rays catcher then scored on one of Wakefield’s three wild pitches of the evening and Zobrist moved into second base. Longoria was intentionally walked and Pena singled Big Ben home, moving Longo to third. Longoria crossed the plate when Rodriguez grounded into a fielder’s choice.
This article appears in Jul 8-14, 2010.