St. Petersburg, FL - Dioner Navarro hit a solo home run to break a scoreless game during a five-run seventh inning as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox, 5-2, to salvage the final game of a three- game set at Tropicana Field.
B.J. Upton hit a three-run home run and Carlos Pena added two hits with a solo shot as the Devil Rays snapped an eight-game losing streak.
Scott Kazmir, who started for the Devil Rays, was brilliant in his six innings of work. The southpaw allowed only six hits, while striking out eight and walking one.
Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis accounted for the Red Sox’s only runs with a pair of solo homers. Boston had a brief three-game winning streak halted.
Daisuke Matsuzaka (12-8) was the hard-luck loser. The righty had a solid outing for the Red Sox, giving up two runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings pitched. He struck out six and walked a batter.
After both teams squandered scoring chances throughout the first six and a half innings, the Red Sox attempted to break the scoreless tie in the seventh. Coco Crisp drew a one out walk, advanced to second on a Wily Mo Pena ground out and then stole third. Following a Doug Mirabelli walk, the Rays pulled Scott Dohmann in favor of Gary Glover (4-3), who got Julio Lugo to ground out to third base to end the threat.
The Devil Rays responded in a big way in the bottom of the seventh. After Greg Norton lined out to first base to start the inning, the Tampa offense took over. Navarro lined a home run to right, his third of the season for the first run of the game. However, the Rays weren’t finished. Josh Wilson singled and after the Red Sox turned to the bullpen and brought in Manny Delcarmen, Brendan Harris’s base hit one out later put runners on first and second with two down. Upton then stepped to the plate and belted a three-run shot to left to give Tampa a 4-0 advantage. The home team added another when Pena followed with a solo homer to right.
Ramirez and Youkilis hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the eighth to make it 5-2.
Glover stayed on for the ninth inning and after retiring Crisp on a fly ball, walked pinch-hitter Jason Varitek, but settled down to get the final two batters and preserve the win for the Devil Rays.
Game Notes
Attendance was 34,813…Prior to today’s game, the Devil Rays recalled infielder Ben Zobrist from Triple-A Durham, with a corresponding move to be made on Monday when Dan Wheeler is expected to be added the roster. Wheeler was acquired from the Houston Astros for Ty Wigginton on Saturday…With the loss the Red Sox are now 103-54 all-time versus Tampa.
