The Sox had another day game today against the Rays. Lackey was on the mound for the Sox, while David Price was on the mound for the Rays. Lackey hadn’t lost since his July 4th meltdown, but against Price he’d have to be as good as he could be to get any chance at a win.
Lackey got the team in a 0-1 hole in the 1st when he gave up a double to Johnny Damon. Damon moved to third on a wild pitch and he scored on a Zobrist RBI grounder. Upton hit a solo HR in the 4th to put the Rays up 2-0. Longoria hit a solo HR in the 5th to extend the Rays lead to 3-0. Lackey gave up the 4th run of the day on a Zobrist RBI double in the 7th. Lackey was pulled and replaced by Alfredo Aceves. Lackey’s pitching line for the day was 125 pitches, 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BBs and 7 Ks. Aceves pitched 1.1 innings of scoreless relief followed by an inning of scoreless relief from Dan Wheeler.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
Unfortunately for Lackey, while he was giving up runs, David Price wasn’t giving up much of anything. For the 3rd game in a row, the Sox were stopped dead in their tracks by the Rays starting pitching. Price only gave up 3 hits in the game through 8 innings pitched. The only Sox to get hits off of Price were Ellsbury (triple), Pedroia (single) and Youkilis (single).
While I can be concerned about our starting rotation, I am more concerned about how this series has shown a difficulty with getting good quality hits off of quality pitching. The Sox got a total of 9 hits in this whole series. If the Sox are to be post season bound, that is just not going to get it done. This is just one series and I could list countless games which we have gotten plenty of hits against good pitching, but it is cause for concern.
Red Sox 0 Rays 4 BOXSCORE
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