RED SOX 10, RAYS 6: Thanks to rain delay and Boston's offense, Tampa Bay's pen gets a workout.
By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer
Published August 30, 2005
[AP photo]
Alex Gonzalez throws to first to take out Boston Red Sox' Manny Ramirez in the fourth inning Monday.
BOSTON - Manager Lou Piniella said the only way the Devil Rays could carry over the momentum of capping their franchise-best 9-4 homestand with a three-game sweep of the Angels was to get good pitching in Monday's opener of a tough 10-game road trip.
They didn't.
And they couldn't.
The result was a rain-delayed 10-6 loss to the Red Sox that not only was disappointing but left the bullpen short-handed for the rest of the four-game series and could lead to the recall of reliever Lance Carter from Triple A.
"It was a long night," Rays leftfielder Carl Crawford said. "A very long night."
Starter Seth McClung, pitching after learning of the death of his grandmother in West Virginia, gave up homers to two of his first three batters and didn't return after the 1-hour, 43-minute delay in the middle of the second inning.
Tim Corcoran, dealing with his own issues of checking the effects of Hurricane Katrina on relatives and friends in his native Louisiana, was good for three innings but crumbled in the fourth, allowing four runs.
The game ended at 12:05 a.m., and by the end of the long, soggy night, the Rays had used five pitchers (Trever Miller, Travis Harper and Jesus Colome followed), David Ortiz had blasted two home runs and every Boston starter had at least one hit as the Sox rapped 13 overall.
"Losing our starting pitcher hurt us more," Piniella said. "We don't need any more of these rain delays."
The Rays hitters didn't do much early, hitting into four double plays in the first six innings, but scored five in their final three at-bats to at least make it close. Rookie Jonny Gomes notched two more doubles, Travis Lee knocked in a couple more runs and Eduardo Perez hit his 11th homer.
McClung picked up a victory the last time he pitched in rain, pitching two scoreless innings before an 80-minute delay Aug.13 in Cleveland, then allowing one run in three innings afterward.
But despite feeling the best he had all year, he got off to a rough start Monday, hanging curveballs that AL leading hitter Johnny Damon and AL RBI leader Ortiz knocked out of the park.
McClung said he wanted to return after the delay, but the coaches refused. "They felt it was better for my arm for the rest of the season and my career that I didn't," he said. "Those guys have got to stop me because I'm going to go out there no matter what."
McClung was pitching with a heavy heart, having learned that his 88-year-old grandmother, Anna McClung, had died that morning. McClung will fly to West Virginia today to attend the funeral and return Thursday.
"My whole family is (together) and I knew they were back home watching the game, and I just wanted to pitch well so they could have something to cheer about," McClung said. "But I guess the Lord didn't want me to take that much burden on me today."
The last time the Rays saw Red Sox starter Matt Clement, he was being carried off the Tropicana Field turf on a stretcher after being struck in the head by a Crawford line drive July 26.
Clement returned to the mound nine days later and has done well since. He allowed only three hits and one run over five-plus innings Monday and didn't appear to have any bad memories.
"It didn't look like it bothered him at all," Crawford said. "Not the way he was pitching."
