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Red Sox Get Even With Jackson

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 3, 2008

BOSTON The last time Edwin Jackson faced the Red Sox, a week ago at Tropicana Field, Rays manager Joe Maddon liked the young right-hander's body language more than anything. Stern expression on his face, cap pulled down low, Jackson was the picture of focus as he out-dueled Clay Buchholz and led the Rays to victory.

Jackson displayed the same type of determination early in Friday night's rematch at Fenway Park, but it didn't last. In fact, all it took was one bad pitch that ended up traveling a long, long way through the chilly night air to send him and the Rays spiraling toward a 7-3 defeat that knocked them out of first place.

Rookie right fielder Brandon Moss, who already had a highlight to his credit by throwing out Evan Longoria at the plate to end the second inning, crushed a 2-0 offering from Jackson to dead center with two out and the bases empty in the fourth. The ball ricocheted off the roof of the television camera platform high above the 379-foot sign, giving the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.

"The home run does not bother you there," said Maddon.

Without question, the Rays had plenty of time left to turn the game around; Buchholz already had logged 71 pitches through the first four innings and didn't appear long for the mound himself. But Jackson lost his grip on the game and the big inning that brought about his demise throughout a miserable 2007 season reared its ugly head again.

Jason Varitek singled and Julio Lugo walked after being down 1-2 in the count – an at-bat Maddon considered the turning point in the game. Jacoby Ellsbury singled to bring home Varitek and stole second. Dustin Pedroia singled to score Lugo and Ellsbury. And David Ortiz followed with a single of his own, bringing in Pedroia for a five-run inning and 6-0 lead – every bit of the damage coming with two outs.

In fact, it took Jackson 30 pitches from the time he retired Kevin Youkilis with the second out before he struck out Manny Ramirez, the ninth man to bat in the inning, to end it.

"The fact that there was two outs and nobody on and it turned into that inning, that's the tough part about it," said Maddon.

He allowed Jackson to go back out for the fifth, but a Mike Lowell double and Youkilis walk to open the inning brought the Rays' manager to the mound with the hook.

That flashback to uglier days for Jackson and his team was not what the Rays had in mind after waiting out a two-hour, 27-minute rain delay that pushed the start of the game back to 9:32 p.m. But Jackson asserted afterward that he had made some good pitches in the fateful inning.

"I think I threw one pitch that was down the middle and it was a home run," said Jackson. "Whether it be a broken-bat single or a soft line drive or a hard-hit ball, regardless of whether I made my pitch or not, the ball found a way to land. I've had games where I've been erratic in four innings and it looked real bad, but today I challenged them and I made them hit the ball and they just hit the ball."

Before the Red Sox broke out on Jackson, the Rays squandered a couple of opportunities to do the same. Buchholz walked Longoria and Eric Hinske to open the second but retired the next two hitters before Jason Bartlett singled to right. Longoria was waved around to score but cut down at the plate by Moss.

It got even worse in the third, as the Rays once again opened the inning by putting men on first and second thanks to a rare Akinori Iwamura single and a Carl Crawford walk. Buchholz then proceeded to fan Jonny Gomes and get called third strikes on Carlos Pena and Longoria to wriggle out of the jam.

The Rays' desperation began to show in the fifth. They finally got on the board when Crawford doubled in Bartlett. But Crawford, having moved to third on a wild pitch, tried to score on a groundout to third by Gomes. Crawford was only a couple steps off the bag when Lowell fielded the ball and threw out Gomes out at first, but he broke for home. Youkilis had plenty of time to pivot and fire the ball home, allowing Varitek to tag Crawford out and end the inning.

"He was just trying to make something happen right there and it just didn't work," said Maddon.

The visitors finally capitalized on an opportunity in the seventh, when they once again put two men on immediately. Pinch-hitter Justin Ruggiano hustled down the line on a grounder to short as Lugo threw high for an error and Bartlett moved him to third with a double. An Iwamura sacrifice fly scored Ruggiano and Crawford's groundout did the same for Bartlett, cutting Boston's lead to 6-3.

Manny Delcarmen replaced Javier Lopez (who was charged with two unearned runs) at that point and Gomes and Pena reached base with a walk and a single. That brought Longoria to the plate representing the tying run, but he got in a 0-2 hole and eventually struck out.

The Red Sox padded their lead in the eighth as Varitek doubled high off the Green Monster, just missing a homer, to score Moss from first. It looked as if it was going to get ugly for Jason Hammel in his first relief appearance of the season, as the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out, but Hammel retired Ortiz and Ramirez to emerge having allowed only the one run.

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227 or mlancaster@tampatrib.com.

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