Well the Tampa Bay Rays showed they could lose just as well without B.J. Upton in the lineup Tuesday night. He sat for most of the night and the Rays scored five runs on 12 hits, but it wasn’t enough to get it done as the Boston Red Sox got the better of them 8-5 at Fenway Park. James Shields started strong but yielded five runs on seven hits; he struck out six batters while pitching through five innings. The major blemish on his evening was the cookie he fed David Ortiz, who went yard for a three-run homer in the fifth inning. Shields started the sixth inning but failed to record an out before being relieved by Dan Wheeler. Lance Cormier was charged with two runs and Andy Sonnanstine with one on Bill Hall’s home run in the seventh.
The Rays’ bats came to life toward the end after a lukewarm start. Carl Crawford went 4 for 5 and scored a run in his return to the lineup after missing a few games with a sore shoulder. Sean Rodriguez singled twice in a low offensive ofering that was not defined by the number of hits but rather the timing of them; in all of the Rays’ multi-hit innings, the second hit came after the Red Sox had already recorded two outs.
