G61: Red Sox 7, Rays 4

Rays    - 100 102 000 - 4  7  1
Red Sox - 020 104 00x - 7  7  0

Masterson was solid (6-6-4-2-5, 91), Manny Delcarmen and Craig Hansen looked great, Mike Lowell opened the scoring with a two-run dong in the second, and Coco Crisp put the game on ice with a two-run double in the sixth ... but the star of the night was J.D. Drew.

Drew doubled in the second, hit a solo home run in the fourth, walked and scored in the sixth, and made two outstanding catches in right field in the fourth and fifth innings.

In New York, Joba Chamberlain threw 37 pitches in his first inning of work -- almost a career-high number of pitches for an outing -- walking three Blue Jays and committing a balk. He lasted only 2.1 innings; Toronto used a six-run seventh to grab a 9-3 win. ... Baltimore beat Minnesota, so the Yankees (28-30) are back in the basement (7 GB).

***

Matt Garza (3.78, 108 ERA+) / Justin Masterson (1.46, 295 ERA+)

Through some minor miracle, the Red Sox will not see Scott Kazmir in this series.

            W   L   PCT   GB   RS   RA  X-W/L
Tampa Bay  35  22  .614   --  257  228  32-25 
Boston     35  25  .583  1.5  302  261  34-26 
Toronto    31  28  .525  5.0  238  210  33-26 
New York   28  29  .491  7.0  255  263  28-29 
Baltimore  27  29  .482  7.5  233  251  26-30

And while the two top teams in the AL East begin their three-game series, down in New York ...


Joba Chamberlain will make the first start of his major league career -- after 39 relief appearances. He will face the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay.

Joba has never pitched more than two innings in a game. He has thrown more than 35 pitches in an outing only once (May 24, 40 pitches).

Later tonight, in San Francisco, Pedro Martinez makes his return to the Mets rotation.