All pitch in as Rays roll at Fenway
Longoria's five RBIs helps even series with Red Sox
BOSTON -- Everybody hit well for the Rays in Saturday's 14-5 win over the Red Sox in front of a crowd of 37,773 at Fenway Park.
In victory, the Rays moved to 3-1 on the current seven-game road trip and they have now won seven of their past 10 games. Meanwhile, Boston fell to 3-6 against Tampa Bay this season.
The Rays batted around in both the fifth and sixth innings, sending 11 batters to the plate in a six-run fifth and sending nine to the plate in a five-run sixth. In addition, they collected eight hits in the fifth, their largest total in an inning since tallying eight in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium on April 4, 2008.
Every starter in the Rays' lineup hit safely, with five having multi-hit efforts and five driving in two or more runs. Standing out among them were Evan Longoria, who had a home run, a double and five RBIS, and Carl Crawford, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, an RBI, three runs scored and a walk. Saturday was the sixth time this season Crawford has had a game with three or more hits; four of those games have come against the Red Sox.
Carlos Pena also chipped in a two-run double, giving him 32 RBIs on the season. Ben Zobrist and Pat Burrell each had two-run singles, and Burrell stole his first base since Sept. 30, 2004.
Scott Kazmir (4-3) started for the Rays and earned the win, allowing three runs in five innings, giving him a 2-0 record and a 3.27 ERA against the Red Sox this season.
"[I] felt good, battled out there, had a pretty good first inning," Kazmir said. "[I] felt good with that; I just tried to keep them at bay. Those guys are great hitters. They're great at this ballpark. I just knew it was going to be tough, just had to go out there and battle."
Usually tough Jon Lester (2-3) started for the Red Sox and allowed a career-high eight runs.
"It seems like I have some good innings strung together and then some bad ones," Lester said. "I guess back to the drawing board tomorrow, and figure it out and make whatever adjustments we need to make."
Joe Maddon thought Lester had good stuff on Saturday.
"[His] velocity was way up there," Maddon said.
Longoria agreed with his manager.
"I think maybe the main thing with him is he was just getting behind a little bit early in the count," Longoria said. "It makes it easier to hit off a guy with the stuff he has when you're 2-0 or 2-1 or 3-1. If he gets ahead, he becomes a real tough guy. I mean he's still tough, but he becomes a lot tougher when he gets ahead with strike one."
Lance Cormier filled the role of unsung hero of the day by saving the bullpen with a 3 2/3-inning relief effort that saw him allow just one hit while finishing off the game.
"We really did a nice job in the middle of the game," Maddon said. "Even in the beginning, you just saw our guys on the bench from the beginning, they were very much ready to play today's game. We just played well. And Kaz battled through some tough moments. And eventually, Cormier was awesome toward the end. He's done some good work for us, but that's as good as he's looked."
Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.




