ST PETERSBURG, FL – It was a night of near perfection at Tropicana Field as Boston Red Sox ace Josh Beckett mowed down the Rays in dominant fashion to lead the team to their tenth win in eleven games defeating the Rays 3-0 on Wednesday night. A Reid Brignac infield single in the third inning was the only blemish on Beckett’s pitching line. With the Bruins winning an exciting game 7 and securing the Stanley Cup for the hub, the question can be asked, was anybody watching? Hopefully they were, because this was a vintage Josh Beckett performance, and perhaps his best ever in a Red Sox uniform.
Kevin Youkilis added all of the offense the Red Sox would need hitting a three run blast off of Tampa starter Jeremy Hellickson in the seventh inning. Hellickson had matched Beckett nearly pitch for pitch through six innings. It took Beckett only 97 pitches to finish the complete game victory, he struck out 6 rays and walked none. It was pure domination.
With one out in the seventh, Dustin Pedroia hit a blast off of the right field wall for a triple, the Rays chose to intentionally walk league leading hitter Adrian Gonzalez and pitch to Youkilis. It was a fatal mistake as the Red Sox third baseman took Hellickson deep on the second pitch of his at bat. The Rays bullpen held the Sox in check the rest of the way but the damage was done, and Beckett was unhittable and dominant the rest of the way. Beckett improves his record to 6-2 on the season and Hellickson falls to 7-5.
The game was played in a crisp two hours and twenty minutes. It felt like they wanted to get the victory and clear the stage for the historic Bruins victory that was occurring at the same time in Vancouver. The Red Sox will complete their 9 game road trip tonight in Tampa Bay when Clay Buchholtz takes on Tampa Bay’s tough lefty David Price in the rubber game of the three game series. Boston is 7-1 so far on the trip and maintain a 1 1/2 game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East.
