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Friday, May 5 7:05pm ET
Ramon Martinez gets enough support | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
BOSTON (AP) -- The Red Sox pounded the AL's worst pitching staff for five doubles, two by Brian Daubach, and Carl Everett hit his ninth homer as Boston beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-3 Friday night. The Devil Rays started the day with a 6.12 ERA. Only Colorado's 6.15 in the NL was worse. Boston, meanwhile, entered the game with the AL's best ERA, 3.82. After allowing a run in the first, Ramon Martinez (2-2) was staked to a 5-1 lead after four innings. He gave up two more runs before leaving with no outs in the sixth, but Rich Garces and Derek Lowe, who got his sixth save, shut down the Devil Rays the rest of the way. It was a good start to the season series for Boston, which was 4-9 against Tampa Bay last year. Texas and Oakland were the only other teams to win season series against Boston last season. The Devil Rays, who lost for the fifth time in six games, took a 1-0 lead in the first on a leadoff triple by Gerald Williams and a single by Greg Vaughn. The Red Sox tied it against Dave Eiland (1-1) in the bottom half on back-to-back doubles by Trot Nixon and Daubach. They went ahead 2-1 in the third on a single by Nixon, a double by Daubach and a sacrifice fly by Nomar Garciaparra. They added three runs in the fourth. Everett hit the first pitch of the inning for a homer, another set of consecutive doubles by Jason Varitek and Wilton Veras produced the second run and Jose Offerman singled in the third. Then Tampa Bay chipped away with a run in the fifth on a double by Tony Graffanino and a single by Williams and another run in the sixth on Jose Canseco's fifth homer of the year. Fred McGriff then singled, chasing Martinez with Boston's lead in jeopardy. Martinez allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings. Garces came in with the score 5-3, no outs and a runner on first. The situation worsened when McGriff took second on Varitek's passed ball and Vinny Castilla walked. Mike DiFelice then hit a deep drive over Nixon's head, but the right fielder raced to the wall to make an over-the-shoulder catch as McGriff moved to third. Then Garces got out of trouble by striking out Kevin Stocker and Graffanino. Game notesEiland had tightness in his left quadriceps when he left the game with one out in the fourth. ... Offerman came into the game in a 3-for-30 slump and struck out in his first at-bat. But he singled on his next three trips to the plate. ... Boston had at least one homer for the sixth straight game and for the 11th game in its last 12. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Tampa Bay Clubhouse Boston Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 5 Tampa Bay 3
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