Tampa Bay 4, Boston 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Where: Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature:
71°
Umpires:
Home -
Lazaro Diaz, 1B -
Tim Welke, 2B -
Paul Schrieber, 3B -
Mike Everitt
Attendance:
37247
By SportsDirect Inc.
Rays 4, Red Sox 2: Carlos Pena and Ben Francisco hit back-to-back homers in a three-run fifth inning, powering visiting Tampa Bay to its seventh consecutive victory.
Alex Cobb (10-9) pitched five innings for the victory, allowing one run on three hits as the Rays remained three games back of Oakland for the second wild card in the American League. Four relievers bridged the gap to closer Fernando Rodney, who earned his 45th save.
Jose Lobaton added an RBI ground-rule double, and Jeff Keppinger and Ben Zobrist had two hits apiece as Tampa Bay beat Boston for the fourth straight time and completed a sweep of the two-game series.
Red Sox starter Jon Lester (9-14) lost his no-hitter, shutout and the lead in the fifth inning when he gave up a one-out single to Keppinger before Pena clubbed a towering shot to center field for his seventh career blast off Lester - the most against him by any left-handed batter. Francisco followed with a solo shot for a 3-1 lead.
Daniel Nava had an RBI single in the second inning and James Loney added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to get the Red Sox within 3-2, but Lobaton's double in the seventh restored the two-run lead.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Keppinger had his fifth multi-hit game in the last seven and is 15-for-30 in his last eight games. ... The Red Sox unveiled the All-Fenway Team prior to their final home game and 2B Dustin Pedroia was the only active member to make the starting nine. Wade Boggs, who played his final two seasons and collected his 3,000th hit with Tampa Bay, was the starting third baseman. ... The Rays head to Chicago to open a four-game series Thursday night with the White Sox.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Tampa Bay |
|
Boston |
Alex Cobb
|
Player |
Jon Lester |
Win |
W/L |
Loss |
5.0 |
IP |
6.0 |
5 |
Strikeouts |
5 |
3 |
Hits |
4 |
1.80 |
ERA |
4.50 |
Hitting
Tampa Bay |
|
Boston |
Carlos Pena | Player |
Cody Ross |
2 |
Hits |
1 |
2 |
RBI |
0 |
1 |
HR |
0 |
5 |
TB |
1 |
.500 |
Avg |
.333 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Tampa Bay
|
8 |
2 |
16 |
.235 |
12 |
14 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Boston
|
4 |
0 |
4 |
.138 |
12 |
12 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
0 |