G158: Red Sox 5, Spiders 4

Spiders - 012 010 000 - 4  13  1
Red Sox - 400 000 01x - 5  10  2

The Red Sox sent 10 men to the plate in the first inning, forcing Carmona to throw 51 pitches. They scored four runs, which was nice, but they left the bases loaded.

And by the middle of the fifth, Cleveland had tied the game against Byrd (5-11-4-1-4, 89). Byrd seemed to always be pitching with men on base; he was helped out by two double plays.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, pinch-hitter Gumball Bailey tripled high off the Wall in left-center -- he missed a home run by only a few inches. Mark Kotsay ripped Rafael Perez's next pitch down the right field line for an RBI double, and the Red Sox led 5-4.

Manny Delcarmen came in for the ninth. After Grady Sizemore walked and was bunted to second, MDC struck out both Shin-Soo Choo and Jhonny Peralta. Both called strike threes were highly questionable pitches. In fact, if those pitches had been called strikes against Boston, I'd have smoke pouring out of my ears right now.

Baltimore had a 6-0 lead over Tampa Bay after two innings, but the Rays rallied (as effing usual) and won the game 11-6, lowering their East-clinching magic number to 1.

***

Fausto Carmona (5.19, 85 ERA+) / Paul Byrd (4.53, 98 ERA+)

Terry Francona said J.D. Drew "was putting on a clinic" this afternoon in batting practice and felt great. He will be in tonight's starting lineup, playing right field. Chris Carter will play left field, giving Jason Bay a day off.

Mike Lowell thinks he will be able to play a game or two this weekend and tune up for the ALDS.

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Two more pictures from last night, posted to the SoSH Game Thread:


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Rays/Orioles at 7

East                     Magic #
Rays       95  62   ---
Red Sox    92  65   3.0     2